Regenesys Business School celebrated impressive South African women at its Women’s Forum to conclude the end of Women’s Month.
Dr Precious Moloi-Motsepe, the executive chairperson of African Fashion International and Dr Judy Dlamini, the chancellor of the University of Witwatersrand discussed how women will have an impact during the fourth industrial revolution.
The fourth industrial revolution is expected to be characterised by the emergence of new technologies, artificial intelligence (AI) and automation.
Moloi-Motsepe highlighted that in the first two revolutions in South Africa women had been predominantly excluded. “If we are not careful we could exacerbate the inequalities as move forward into this fourth phase.
“We are still working towards including technologically driven changes into our society socially and economically.”
She added that in South Africa, women still lag behind in access to the internet, which will be essential to growing the skills necessary to become a part of the industrial revolution. She also said by overcoming the digital divide addressing gender parity could result in an increased global Gross Domestic Product of $12 trillion (R176 trillion).
According to Dlamini, as we enter the fourth industrial revolution creativity, emotional intelligence and cognitive flexibility will be in high demand. “Women are better equipped, and excel, in this area, based on their default leadership style, provided they are given the space to lead and the support.
“Gender equity will unlock the power of our society through economic growth and development.”
Vanessa Singh, an executive at Nedbank, works with a robot named Pepper and demonstrated how human interactions with robots in the future will play an essential role in the way robots and humans work in conjunction. “What women bring to the table is not just being a data scientist or a programmer or a medical practitioner. The most important thing that we bring to the table is emotional and spiritual intelligence.
“As the adoption of AI accelerates, the value of skills at that cannot be replaced by robots, such as creativity, emotional intelligence and leadership, the need for these qualities will increase.”
Details: Regenesys Business School 011 669 5000.
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