Women in Việt Nam are more likely than men to work in occupations exposed to generative AI. Illustrative image: pexels.com

HÀ NỘI — Women in Việt Nam are more likely than men to work in occupations exposed to generative AI. But rather than asking whether AI will replace these jobs, it is more important to consider whether women will have equal access to the new skills and opportunities that AI creates.

According to a research released in 2026 by the International Labour Organization (ILO), around 11.5 million workers in Việt Nam – about one in five – are in occupations where some tasks could be affected by generative AI (GenAI). Notably, exposure is higher for women, at 24.1 per cent, compared with 17.8 per cent for men.

The trend is not unique to Việt Nam. Across 84 countries under the ILO research, female-dominated occupations are almost twice as likely to be exposed to GenAI as male-dominated occupations. This is partly because women are more concentrated in clerical, administrative and business-support roles, where AI can readily assist with tasks such as drafting documents, responding to customers or processing routine records.

At first glance, this may sound like bad news for women. But according to Dr Võ Thị Hồng Diễm, a lecturer in Digital Economy at RMIT University Vietnam, exposure does not automatically mean replacement.

“Generative AI impacts the task level first, not the job level. An administrative worker may use GenAI to draft emails or summarise meetings, but still needs to understand the context, communicate, and take responsibility,” she said.

“As GenAI raises productivity, an important consideration is who will be equipped to take on higher-value work as tasks change.”

For many women, that consideration matters more than whether AI automates individual tasks. Women are among the workers most likely to see their day-to-day work reshaped by AI tools, yet they remain underrepresented in many of the roles designing, implementing and managing these technologies.

“Without deliberate action, there is a risk that women experience the disruption brought by AI without enjoying an equal share of the opportunities it creates,” said Diễm.

From basic digital skills to AI capability and better jobs

Việt Nam’s 2026–30 Digital Economy and Digital Society Development Programme released in June, 2026 provides an important foundation to reduce inequality in accessing opportunities from new technologies. The Prime Minister-approved programme aims to deliver basic digital-skills training to at least 10 million working-age participants and support at least 500,000 small and medium-sized enterprises in digital transformation.

But basic digital literacy is only the starting point. Dr Diễm believes workers also need to know when AI output can be trusted, how to verify it, how to protect confidential data and when a human must remain responsible for the final decision.

For women in particular, access to these capabilities could increasingly shape career opportunities in AI-enabled workplaces.

This matters because the ILO continues to identify occupational segregation, earnings gaps and barriers to women’s career progression in Việt Nam.

“Women’s higher exposure to GenAI is neither automatically bad news nor automatically an opportunity. The outcome will depend on how firms redesign jobs, expand access to AI tools and training, share productivity gains, and support workers as roles change,” Dr Diễm pointed out.

“The goal should not simply be faster AI adoption, but to turn exposure into capability, and capability into better opportunities.”

For Việt Nam, the more useful question is therefore not “Will AI take women’s jobs?” but “Will women have an equal chance to shape and benefit from the jobs that AI transforms?”.

At the "Women in the Age of Artificial Intelligence" forum recently held in Hà Nội by the Việt Nam Women’s Academy, a central discussion focused on how women can move beyond merely using AI to actively participating in generating value from technology.

Drawing on practical case studies and direct discussions with students, the seminar conveyed a clear message to learners: while AI is driving unprecedented transformations, how individuals approach and leverage technology will dictate their ability to turn those changes into academic and career opportunities. For female students, proactively equipping themselves with knowledge, digital skills, critical thinking, and confidence can serve as the launchpad to engage more deeply in the tech landscape, not solely as end-users, but as value creators. — VNS