The AI Gender Gap: Women's Underrepresentation in AI Usage and Its Implications

The gender gap in AI-related job losses - here's why women need to learn new tech skills rapidly

The outlook isn't overwhelmingly optimistic for women in the workplace. Both within the tech sector itself, and also in industries that are embracing Artificial Intelligence (AI), there's a gender imbalance in who is more likely to lose their job as a result of AI. According to global employment estimates from the International Labour Organization (ILO), clerical work is the most at risk from generative AI, with 24% of clerical tasks categorized as highly exposed and another 58% as medium-level exposed. This means women are more exposed to the automating effects of gen AI, as they are overrepresented in clerical work globally. When interface analyzed data on nearly 1.6 million AI professionals worldwide, it found stark gender imbalances, mirrored across the wider technology sector. Women account for only 22% of AI talent globally, and fewer than 14% of senior executive roles in AI. Alex Rumble, CMO at HTEC, notes: With only 22% of AI professionals being women, this number is compounded by two additional factors: there are fewer women than men in leadership positions, which means we're building the technology without enough female input and in doing so, repeating the very bias that affects them. While there are women pioneers in AI, who are making a significant impact on its development, female voices are underrepresented. Part of this is down to the fact the industry is very male-dominated, with women still only accounting for around 25% of tech jobs. To counter this underrepresentation, Chelsea Hopkins, Social Media and PR Manager at Fasthosts, argues that it's important to showcase the already successful women's voices in STEM, to ensure women founders of AI technology are recognized and credited. She adds: Despite the gender disparity in AI, women have already been crucial in the development of the AI era. However, when AI is scanning the internet in real-time for data, women's voices are not platformed as easily, as they are marginalized in conversations in the STEM sphere due to underrepresentation in the workforce. As AI systems pull data from large data sets with historical biases, this could amplify the pre-existing disparity between women and men's voices. As AI systems perpetuate the gender stereotypes and biases, this could work to further marginalise women in tech. Hopkins says: This calls for more gender representation in STEM as a sector, but in the models of AI too. It's important to keep AI human-led, with continuous auditing and monitoring of the systems of AI. The lack of representation of women in AI could be a reason for the gender gap in use of the technology. Deloitte UK's 2024 Digital Consumer Trends survey reported that just 28% of women were using gen AI, compared to 43% of men. Women are also less interested in trying out different aspects of gen AI: whether conversing with a travel chatbot, receiving help in buying products, or getting a personalized fitness plan, more men wanted to experience the task compared to women, with up to a 14% difference. Another challenge to overcome is an inherent distrust of AI systems among women. Only 18% of women experimenting with or using gen AI had high or very high trust that the providers of the gen AI capabilities they use would keep their data secure. This compared to 31% of male adopters, the Deloitte study revealed. The gender gap in attitudes towards trusting and experimenting with AI tools needs to be overcome to ensure women don't find themselves excluded from the future workforce. The World Economic Forum's (WEF) 'Future of Jobs Report 2025' highlights how critical it will be for workers to acquire AI skills - or risk losing their job. According to the report, 77% of employers plan to reskill and upskill existing staff to better work alongside AI, while 69% intend to hire new people with skills to design AI tools and enhancements, and 62% will take on new workers to better work alongside AI. But 41% of those same employers also plan to downsize headcount where AI can replicate people's work. To safeguard their careers, women need to move away from a standpoint of resisting AI and instead focus on mastering the technology; researching which AI tools are gaining most traction in their specific industry sector is a good starting point. In the legal sector, for example, standout candidates are those who understand how AI can aid workflows and manual tasks, according to Sophie Best, Senior Consultant, Legal Tech at Jameson Legal. She explains: Broadly, platforms like ChatGPT, Claude, Microsoft Copilot and Notion AI are ones that I and others I know use heavily for streamlining research, drafting and internal workflows. Gaining fluency in these tools and understanding how they integrate into real-world systems is a game-changer. I've worked with many clients who are now expected to understand AI not just for efficiency, but to mitigate risk and protect reputations. According to Rumble, to advance their careers in the AI era, women need to be curious, drive their own re-skilling, and stop avoiding AI or treat it as optional. She explains: Given that the demand for AI-specific skills is increasing, up-skilling and re-skilling initiatives should focus on building foundational digital competencies and the skill bundles that combine technical know-how with critical cognitive and socio-emotional skills, rather than promoting technical AI skills in isolation. By acquiring digital literacy and technical skills, women can not only secure positions in the tech industry but also influence the design of AI systems. Broadening the definition of what it means to work in technology will help women forge future careers. Coding and engineering roles are one element of the industry, but businesses developing AI-based tools also need product managers, ethics advisors, customer strategy leads, marketers and operational roles. Ritu Dubey, Head of Market Development at Digitate, notes: By expanding awareness of these diverse opportunities, women can find entry points that align with their skills while contributing meaningfully to AI's evolution. Utilizing AI tools in everyday tasks can help here, building understanding and improving efficiencies. This isn't about everyone needing to become AI developers, but rather about embracing AI technologies to streamline work and unlock their full potential. As women are increasing their AI skills, they also need to ensure they are being heard for their successes in the sector. Hopkins notes: Women must actively advocate for themselves in the AI era, and platform their voices as much as possible in places where Large Language Models scan and retrieve their resources, such as news publications, Wikipedia and Reddit. When women are contributing to the conversation, they're much more likely to bridge that gap of gender bias and be platformed by AI tools. With women currently making up such a small portion of the AI workforce, this highlights the urgent need for greater female participation. As Best notes: Women who lean in here won't just future-proof their roles, they'll position themselves as trusted advisors at the intersection of tech, governance and business. It's not that surprizing that so few women are working in AI roles, as it mirrors the wider tech sector gender imbalance. What's more surprizing and concerning is the gap between men and women when it comes to using gen AI tools, as the point of these is they don't require any technical skills to use them. In a follow-up piece, I'll be exploring the AI tools women should be trying out to stay ahead in the AI era.

What are the generative AI tools all women should be using to progress their careers?

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is already transforming many of the traditional workplace roles, and the rapid advance of the technology will continue to impact the jobs market for many years to come. For those individuals already using or experimenting with AI and generative AI tools, this early adoption could help safeguard their job and progress their career, as more businesses look for staff who can develop or work alongside AI programs. Unfortunately, this leaves women at a disadvantage, as currently there's more uptake of AI tools among men than women. Research from the Oliver Wyman Forum found that while 59% of male workers aged 18 to 65 use generative AI tools at least once a week, only 51% of women do. What's more worrying is that the gap is biggest among the youngest workers: 71% of men aged 18 to 24 use gen AI weekly, compared to 59% of women. The problem with this is, if women lag behind men when it comes to uptake of AI tools, they're more likely to lose out on future promotions and be first in line for layoffs triggered by AI replacing people. Camille Oster, COO at MVPR, notes: My experience tells me that women are disproportionately at risk. We're overrepresented in junior roles that look easy to automate, while underrepresented in senior positions deemed safe. Some companies are already using AI to freeze hiring or reduce headcount, and that hits women harder. In tech, I see women clustered in roles like marketing and communications rather than technical roles. All these jobs can benefit from AI - but feel equally threatened by it. While the burden shouldn't be put on women to solve a consequence of workplace inequality, Oster says it's crucial for women to get familiar with AI, most importantly to understand what it can and can't do so they can identify their irreplaceable value. Here are Oster's tips for AI tools and scenarios women should be trying out: These AI tools and scenarios aren't limited to a particular industry sector or role; many of them would have benefits for women working in anything from sales and marketing to recruitment and finance. For women working in the tech sector, and more specifically in technical roles, the need to embrace AI is even more pressing. Women are still a minority group in the IT industry, and to avoid being shut out from the AI workplace too, they need to be much more proactive in investigating which AI tools are available to support their current roles and get them to the next stage in their career. As Faye Ellis, Principal Training Architect at Pluralsight, notes: Technology is rapidly changing our world and we need women to be involved. AI needs diverse perspectives to avoid biased outcomes, so all of us must be a part of shaping how this technology is being designed, implemented and governed. Experimenting with AI at and outside of work will help women get familiar with the tools, and understand its strengths and limitations. Ellis says: My recommendation is to first think about ways that we can lead innovation in the roles we do today. For instance, by automating routine tasks like writing code snippets, summarising meetings or drafting reports. Consider repetitive tasks that are done daily or weekly, experiment to find ways that AI can help accomplish these things more efficiently. It's worth considering new areas where AI adoption could open up alternative career paths, for example female tech workers could focus on ethics, explainable AI, security and compliance. Ellis adds: If you are someone who is interested in helping safeguard systems, then now is the time to explore these areas and start developing the skills needed to pivot in this direction. The best approach is to build AI skills that align with your existing strengths and the evolving needs of your organization or sector. Ellis explains: If you are a data expert, you might be interested in data strategy; a software engineer could focus on ways that code written by AI models can be properly tested and evaluated; and a security expert might be interested in how AI-powered systems need to be secured, the security threats that AI poses, and how it can be used to help protect our systems. According to Ellis, hot AI skills in demand now include: Even though technologies are changing and updating all the time, skills learnt today will ensure women are ready for any future developments. Ellis adds: Committing a little time each week to update your skills will go a long way towards helping you to stay current. A couple of challenges women might face when it comes to testing out AI tools are a lack of time - as a result of juggling childcare, elderly care and household duties - and of technical expertise. But the process of mastering AI doesn't need to take up huge amounts of time, says Caroline Monfrais, VP and Head of Consulting, Europe at Wipro Consulting. She explains: Anyone can teach themselves how to leverage AI effectively in under a week, with just an hour a day and zero technical skills. It's empowering, transformative and it works. Monfrais notes that there are various cognitive strengths where AI can give women a unique advantage. These include pattern recognition and decision agility, which AI supercharges by analysing vast data sets, surfacing insights and reinforcing intuitive judgment with hard evidence; and communication and influence, with AI-driven refinements helping women navigate complex conversations and decode team dynamics. She adds: Developing advanced prompting skills beyond the basics of ChatGPT is a career superpower, a skill that amplifies natural talents and fuels professional acceleration. Some really useful advice here for women concerned about the impact of AI on their future career. I like the sharing of specific tools and prompts, and hope people find some time over the summer period to try some new ones out.

Women Are Using AI at Work Less Than Men. That's a Problem

A sizable body of scientific research shows that on average women are more risk averse than men: a 2023 study of over 13,000 people concluded women had "heightened sensitivity to potential losses." Now a study published by Harvard Business School found the same trend is mirrored in AI use in the workplace. The researchers found that woment are simply just not using AI at work as much as their male colleagues. In fact, women were using AI at a 25 percent lower rate than men were. This may have long-term consequences. Why is this happening? Technology educator Avery Swartz told Canadian news outlet CTV News that she thinks women take less risks in the workplace because "statistically, they are more likely to be penalized or punished for taking a risk," and that when a man uses emerging tech he's called "innovative," while for a woman "using emerging technology is cheating." Swartz also suggested that in the medium to long term, the gender AI use gap may worsen, meaning women may be less likely to advance their careers and this could widen already existing pay inequalities. The authors of the business school's working paper highlight that the gender gap in AI use is problematic in several respects. It's not merely because of the way that men and women may benefit more, or less, from the advantages of using AI -- or how their managers perceive individual employees' capacitiy for innovation. The AI gender gap also "risks creating a self-reinforcing cycle," that will have serious impacts on future AI tech development, which largely depends on using existing source material to train new tools. Underrepresentation of women users in generative AI usage can "lead to systems trained on data that inadequately sample women's preferences and needs, ultimately widening existing gender disparities in technology adoption and economic opportunity." Gender pay disparities around AI are in the spotlight at the moment, thanks to recent data that show AI hiring systems are advising women and minorities to negotiate for lower pay deals, on average, than it tells white males to aim for. The connection between AI use and pay differences is also referenced in a separate report. Fortune reports that AI is actually delivering on many critics' worries and is driving many technology sector companies to lay off workers in favor of using cheaper, faster AI tech. Microsoft, the publication said, just laid off 15,000 workers while simultaneously committing $80 billion to new AI sector investments -- suggesting the layoffs aren't merely about trimming costs, but a restructuring around radical new tech. Meanwhile, a report from Idaho-based software provider and consulting firm Lightcast analyzed over 1.3 billion job postings, and showed that non-tech roles that require AI use are soaring. These posts offer 28 percent higher salaries than average, a boost of nearly $18,000 more per year simply for being AI-savvy. Essentially, Lightcast's research says AI skills are dispersing beyond the tech labor market and into the broader economy, since more than half of all jobs requesting AI skills in 2024 were outside the tech sector, Fortune reports. This news paints a positive picture of AI use in the workplace, adding another incentive for workers to embrace AI systems alongside the time and effort savings the tech can currently offer when it takes on some of the more mundane office duties for you, or even provides insights and incentives that boost the average workers' creativity. But if, as the Harvard paper suggests, women really aren't using AI as much as men, then this also represents a risk to the average pay of women in the workplace -- if they're not embracing the very tech that could see their salary rise if they became AI expert users, the gender pay gap between women and men could worsen much more than thought. And let's not forget that recent UN research showed that women, who are overrepresented in entry-level roles in typical offices, are at three times the risk of being replaced in their job by an AI system. Why should you care about this? Quite apart from striving toward gender equality in terms of pay, you may also want to survey your workforce about their attitudes to AI, as well as reassuring them about your intentions in deploying AI tools inside your company. Paying particular attention to the concerns of your female workers is a good idea -- if they prove more risk-wary than male staff, it's worth investing some time and effort into reassuring them, carefully and using a non-discriminatory approach. Encouraging all of your workers to embrace AI tech may directly impact your profits, as will keeping all your workers happy and positively engaged with thier work, so it's in your best interests to try to dispel worries or concerns. The final deadline for the 2025 Inc. Power Partner Awards is Friday, August 8, at 11:59 p.m. PT. Apply now.