clipped from: news.bbc.co.uk   

We have had the industrial age, we have had the information economy.

But now for something different: "the care economy", predicts BT's Ian Pearson.

And, says Mr Pearson assuredly, women - not men - are best suited for this shift.

After years of so called soft skills - such as communication - being sidelined, they will now play centre-stage.

"People will have to focus on being people, using their emotional skills," asserts Mr Pearson - with male confidence.

And, he insists, women are instinctively good at this.

Mr Pearson describes himself as "an engineer making logical deductions for tomorrow, based on things we can already see happening."
"Physical jobs have been done by machines," he says, matter-of-factly.
Although men do work in roles requiring such interpersonal skills, they are dominated by women.
"The future is female - and these changes are closer than many realize," says Mr Pearson.