In 2011, the German government declared the new era of the digital industrial revolution under the name industry 4.0, which is marked by the rapid development of artificial intelligence and related automation processes. Automation is expected to considerably reduce the need for human labour in the Global North and the Global South. Specific sectors and segments of production are expected to be particularly affected – such as routine tasks in manufacturing, services and agriculture. Most

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... s in these sectors and segments are filled by female workers who potentially face massive job losses in the nearest future with women in the Global South expected to be affected most strongly. This research aims to assess the impact of digitalization on female workers with a focus on the apparel export sector in Bangladesh in the context of existing gender inequalities in production and global value chains. It further aims to identify policy measures that can be undertaken in order to improve the position of female workers in the face of digitalization. Theoretically, the thesis combines global value chains and social upgrading approaches with a materialist feminism perspective focusing on feminization of labour and gender-based segregation of labour and with the literature on digitalization of labour. Research methods include document analysis, global value chain-mapping, semi-structured expert interviews and trade data analysis. The research demonstrates that gender-based segregation of labour contributes to gender inequality in global value chains and the restricted access of female workers to better-paid jobs and social upgrading. These inequalities are expected to worsened due to automation processes related to digitalization. This is particularly relevant for the apparel global value chain where women are concentrated in labour-intensive low-paid jobs, which are most prone to automation. The participation of women in the apparel export sector in Bangladesh already decreased from 80-85% to 60-65%, and further reductio [...]