The Research Problem
Professional work is a building block of modern society, shaping access to essential services, regulating expertise, and conferring authority. Scholars in gender and professions argue that this centrality positions professions as key sites where inequality is both reproduced and, potentially, dismantled. Globally, the exclusivity of professions creates power dynamics that determine who may enter, which knowledge is valued, and whose voices are legitimised or silenced. Professions such as Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics and Medicine (STEMM), Law, and Academia are historically founded on organisational cultures, practices, and norms that favour men, shaping access to leadership, authority, and recognition.
Despite increased participation of women in these professions, they remain disproportionately concentrated in lower-status roles and underrepresented at senior and leadership levels. These patterns are sustained by deeply embedded organisational cultures and structural inequalities that constrain gender equity within professional environments. In the Global South, such inequalities are further intensified by colonial legacies, weak state capacity, resource constraints, and socio-cultural barriers. At the same time, rapid digital transformation, including the expansion of artificial intelligence (AI) and digitisation, is reshaping professional work. These technologies may reinforce existing inequalities or open opportunities for inclusion, depending on how they interact with existing power structures.
This project examines how structural and technological dynamics shape women’s experiences in professions in South Africa, Brazil, Uganda, and China, with a focus on the STEMM, Law, and Academia professions. Through comparative analysis across geographical contexts, the project aims to identify key drivers and inhibitors of gender inequality at micro (individual), meso (institutional), and macro (structural and technological) levels. Particular attention is paid to understanding how AI and digitisation may perpetuate gender inequality or advance equity, mitigate bias, and foster inclusion within professional environments.
Research Design
The work proposed constitutes Phase 1 of a three-phase research project planned over the next 3–5 years.
- Phase 1 will begin with a rapid systematic review of research on gender inequality in professions across the Global South, mapping entrenched barriers, socio-cultural constraints, and systemic inequities. The review will inform the creation of a centralised repository of existing scholarship.
- Each partner site will also conduct 2–3 key informant interviews per profession with organisational leaders and practitioners focusing on how AI will mitigate the exisiting challenges women face. Together, these the results of the literature review and interview findings will inform a conceptual framework identifying key drivers and inhibitors of gender inequality and how the introduction of AI will affect this. There will be two hybrid workshops examining gender, AI, and digitisation in professional contexts.
- Findings will be synthesised in a comparative summary report and shared at an international symposium.
Project Objectives
Objectives are:
- To expand theories of professions beyond the Global North, examining how professional work unfolds under inequality, colonial histories, and rapid social and economic change.
- To conceptualise mechanisms at the micro (individual), meso (institutional), and macro (structural/technological) levels that reproduce or dismantle gender inequality.
- To analyse how AI and digitisation interact with structural conditions to reproduce or dismantle inequality in professions.
Through its funding, WUN provides the project team with an invaluable platform to promote inclusive knowledge creation, methodological innovation, and sustainable international collaboration, building research capacity and ensuring long-term impact.