As we pause to celebrate International Women’s Day, UN Women is undertaking an effort to elevate Women in the Changing World of Work. I couldn’t agree more with the day’s ethos of equality, but the reason may surprise you. It’s not just that gender equality is morally right, but that gender equality is a crucial element of the kind of economy we need to build today: a Human Economy.
Today, advances in technology are forcing us to rethink this hierarchy of human capabilities. We are entering an age when the unique value we bring to the world isn’t just our heads but our hearts: our human traits that can’t be programmed into software, like creativity, passion, character, collaborative spirit and also empathy and care. The machines can already out-think us, but will never be able to out-feel us. Our challenge is to learn to value those deeply human capabilities and skills without bias.
The destination, therefore, is true equality.