Industrial robots and the female employment share in Chinese manufacturing

This article studies the gendered implications of industrial robot diffusion in Chinese manufacturing. Province–industry panel evidence for 2012–2023 shows that greater robot exposure is associated with a lower female employment share. The result is robust to controls, fixed effects, alternative measures, restricted samples, and a EURO5-based instrument. The negative association is stronger where women were initially more concentrated, suggesting that robot adoption can reshape the gender composition of manufacturing employment in a rapidly automating developing economy.