Inspiring Tunisian women who matter in Artificial Intelligence (AI) speak

By Dr. Sami Ayari - In the past two years in particular, we have seen an explosion in the number of articles and books on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and its disruptive power.

Almost all areas of the economy are covered: AI for architects, AI in Ophthalmology, AI in healthcare and medical imaging, AI in the protection of transmission systems and electrical distribution, AI in agriculture, AI in industry 4.0 and robotics, AI in finance, AI in the oil industry, etc.

This is a relevant indicator and a sign that does not deceive and affirms that artificial intelligence (AI) is, on the one hand, transforming our world in a profound way, that is to say our economy and our societies and even the individuals and on the other hand, makes it possible to create an environment of values ​​which is illustrated by the impressive progress in several fields.

AI will change the personal and professional lives of all of us. All forecasts and projections over the next few decades announce a complete upheaval in the employment sector which could lead to the elimination or the creation of tens of millions of jobs.

Spontaneous questions come to mind:

• How could AI speed up or slow down women's career development?

• Can these technologies break this famous glass ceiling?

Early signs are concerning: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) predicts that 11% of jobs currently held by women are at risk of being lost due to AI and other digital technologies, according to the IMF, women are more vulnerable to job losses due to AI, reskilling will be crucial to prevent job loss.^[1]

Women may be missing out on the benefits of AI and the digital revolution, as they are typically underrepresented in jobs that require a background in science, technology, engineering and math, including AI jobs herself.

This problem can turn into a godsend and an opportunity in Tunisia because according to the Ministry of Education and Scientific Research (Ms. Samia Charfi-Kaddour Director of Scientific Research (2017): up to 7 out of 10 university graduates This trend is confirmed across the different levels of higher education where 68% of master's students and 67% of doctoral students are women^[2]

Better still, the so-called STEM branches designating Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics are 58% occupied by our fellow citizens and 55% in the field of scientific research according to (UNESCO)^{[3 ]}.

Always zooming in and relying on the same UNESCO 2018 source, the proportion of women with a higher education degree by field (in %) Agriculture: 73.9 Engineering: 44.2 Health and social services : 75.3 Natural sciences: 77.2 and ICT: 55.6 (UNESCO)^[3].

Currently, globally, women are in the minority in AI, 12-22% of AI professionals are women, according to a gender gap study conducted by the World Economic Forum in collaboration with LinkedIn.

In Tunisia, if we take these global statistics as a hypothesis, a coupling or marriage between STEM skills and DATA and AI skills can certainly be the solution for women's unemployment today and tomorrow.

Many women are already experts in these areas. Retraining and upgrading can therefore turn the tide and offer significant opportunities for women.

“AI feeds algorithms with data to develop new tasks and generate intelligent results. Gender diversity in the development of AI is crucial to provide valuable products while preserving the equity of the results” says Ms. Rim Zitouni Faiz Professor at IHEC Carthage.

The AI ​​industry is growing at a very rapid pace, globally, According to the World Economic Forum, the number of workers with skills in this field has increased by 190%, which further found that "Sectors with more AI-skilled workforces are also those that are changing the fastest."

The dual STEM/AI skill can contribute to equal pay between men and women as well as pure high expertise in AI in Tunisia.

Citing the example of the United States, AI experts are paid more than those in any other field of technology. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and the U.S. Census Bureau, the gender pay gap in IT is one of the smallest in this country, with women earn 94% of the salary of their male colleagues^[4].

The government in Tunisia must adopt a thoughtful approach, implement a pragmatic strategy, and invest in the training of women through government programs, via subsidies to schools, private universities recognized in the field or even tripartite with private companies with key recruitment campaigns.

Everyone is well aware that Reskilling for the next generation of jobs would require a significant investment, women must seize these opportunities to develop the skills needed for the jobs and careers of the future.

AI has the potential to alleviate female unemployment (STEM) in Tunisia within the framework of these government programs or else within the framework of the public-private partnership.

It has the potential to reduce gender and leadership gaps within these companies by removing bias in hiring, evaluation and promotion decisions.

AI is promising because it could provide solutions to improve the retention and advancement of executives and skills. It is not enough to hire more women to fill the leadership gap: companies must also strive to retain and promote them. Everyone, international organizations: UNESCO, ILO, IMF, WB, .etc. Women in AI NGOs are converging and agreeing that the promises will outweigh the perils in the next AI revolution.

In Tunisia, we must transform this crisis and this economic blockage with tens of thousands of unemployed graduates, by immediately going into new technologies, and in particular Data and AI, we must put women first because it has shown in Tunisia and abroad all its ability to master these technologies, to innovate and to apply them in different fields.

The solutions are known, we are all waiting for a divide, a real and sincere desire for change in terms of regulations and mentalities in general.

We are convinced that women in Tunisia can be the panacea and part of the solution to catch up with the technology train and get out of this economic and societal slump that we are experiencing.

AI must not leave women in Tunisia by the wayside, our efforts and actions must be swift and proactive, and we say to women, let your passion, not your salary, guide your choice, apply for your dream job, even if you don't have the required qualifications. And show confidence in your skills, above all make yourself irreplaceable by constantly improving them.

“Women, including Tunisian women, have played and will continue to play an essential role in building the next generation of fair AI systems and in shaping diverse and curious minds in this important field. confirms Mrs. Olfa Nasraoui Professor at the University of Louisville USA

We propose a few measures that could boost employability in this area and that of women:

• Impose the construction of a DataLab for companies from a certain size while respecting parity.

• Tax exemption for companies that use the services of startups in these technologies

• Impose a quota of trainees in these technologies and more women.

• Encourage companies to promote internal reskilling, upskilling in Data and AI technologies

The Tunisian Women and Data + AI Summit 2022 with all these exceptional women in research and teaching or in business will give the way to our young women and explain the issues to them.

They will answer several questions:

• How can women define the future of AI?

• What advice for women who want to work in AI?

• What are the applications of AI?

• How can we adapt AI to our context and our economic needs?

• The stakes in terms of ethics, the education of children in general, especially in relation to our culture?

• What training? How to create this PP partnership?

• How to turn data technologies and AI into catalysts for our economy

• Can Tunisia be an educational HUB for Africa in these technologies?

• How can we develop nearshore in these technologies?

Like the Tunisian Finance Days, we will organize a debate session on the Punic, Roman, Berber and medieval woman with as a panel: Our great historian, archaeologist and epigrapher, writer and Tunisian poet. Leila Ladjimi Sebai, She is a specialist in the history of women in the Roman era in North Africa and the history of Carthage.

And Mansour Ghaki is an archaeologist, linguist, specialist in the Libyco-Punic period, former Tunis Heritage Institute and Oriental Institute of Naples. The moderator: Professor Emeritus at the University of Tunis, a Tunisian scholar and historian, medieval specialist Mounira Chapoutot-Remadi.

We are going through this session, to pay tribute to the Tunisian woman historian.

When will the event take place? what is the program ? How can we participate and which public is concerned?

The Tunisian Women and Data + AI Summit: in its first edition 2022 is a hybrid conference from Tunis. It will take place on the days of January 27, 28 and 29, 2022 between 1 p.m. and 8 p.m.

The opening will be ensured by Ms. Gabriela Ramos (Assistant Director General for Social and Human Sciences of UNESCO).

There will be 15 interventions between 30 min and one hour each.

Pr. Olfa Nasraoui (Professor, endowed Chair, Univ. of Louisville, Tech. Mentor/Proj. Lead at Data Science for Social Good Fellowship University of Louisville USA)

Pr. Rim Zitouni Faiz (Full Professor at IHEC Carthage, PhD in AI / NLP Tunisia)

Dr. Kaouther Boussema (Director of the Big Data AI Master at Dauphine Tunis Tunisia)

Pr. Nahla ben Amor (Full Professor at ISG Tunis, Tunisia)

Dr. Sondess Missaoui (Research Associate in AI at University of York, UK)

Dr. Mouchira Labidi (Freelance AI expert, France)

Dr. Houda bakir (Founder/ceo Historiar, Tunisia)

Dr. Saoussen Ayari (CEO at AI diagnosis vision, Tunisia)

Selsabil Gaied (AI and Data Senior Manager -Head of Data Science and AI at Scale @IBM interactive France)

Neila Benzina (Founding Partner at WIMBEE / Co founder Holberton School, Tunisia, France)

Dr. Amel Mhamdi (Advisor & Associate Professor of Data Science at aivancity France)

Amira Cheniour (Agripreneur 5.0, Co-founder & CEO at Seabex France)

Dr. Lobna Karoui (Data & AI Strategist, Seattle USA)

Dr. Asma Ben Abacha (Staff scientist at the Lister Hill Center, U.S. (NLM), (NIH). USA).

Dr. Rahma Beaugrand (Head of Customer Advisory (Presales, BA, EA innovation Lab SAP) UAE and Oman)

Dr. Ines Alaya (Associate Professor of Computer Sciences at National school of Computer Sciences ENSI, Tunisia

The public concerned:

All stakeholders in DATA, AI, Finance, digitalization, Agriculture, Medicine, biology, etc.…

To participate and get more information, below is the link to the linkedin event page:

https://www.linkedin.com/events/tunisianwomenanddata-aisummit206874697856612089857/

This conference is organized by the Tunisian association based in France: Re*connectt, which aims to:

• Contribute to reducing the North-South digital divide

• To promote women in technology in the southern Mediterranean countries: AI, Fintech, IT, quantum technologies, Industry 4.0, Digitalization, green technologies, etc.

• To promote researchers, academics, leaders and talents in the southern Mediterranean countries

• To promote North-South dialogue and partnership in new technologies

• Promote South-South dialogue and partnership in new technologies.

Dr. Sami AyariFounder and President of Re*connecttExpert in IT organization and Data Transformation at BNP PARIBAS France

[1] https://blogs.imf.org/2018/11/16/women-technology-and-the-future-of-work/

[2] “Stepping Up Women’s STEM Careers in Infrastructure” World Bank 2020

[3] “To be smart, the digital revolution will have to be inclusive” was published on February 11, 2021 on the occasion of the International Day of Women and Girls in Science

[4] https://fr.unesco.org/news/women-are-minority-domains-industry-40https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000375429_fre