Why more women aren't using AI and why that needs to change

I've been thinking about this a lot lately. Over the past two years, I've read report after report saying the same thing. Women are adopting generative AI at much lower rates than men.

At first, I thought maybe it was a coincidence, just a quirk of early adoption trends. But the data keeps showing up and it's hard to ignore.

The numbers tell a clear story

Researchers looked at 18 different studies involving over 140,000 people. College students, professionals, business owners, and more. And across nearly every single one, they found the same thing. Women are 10% to 40% less likely to be using AI tools like ChatGPT and Claude than men.

When they averaged it all out, the gender gap landed around 25%.

That's the part that really stood out to me.

Two of the biggest reasons women gave for holding back? They didn't want to be seen as "cheating" by using AI and they questioned whether it was ethical.

It's not about ability, it's about confidence

That hesitation makes sense, especially for women in industries where there's already pressure to prove your value. But here's the thing. Using AI isn't cheating. It's a tool. Just like calculators (remember them?), spreadsheets, or spell check. And you don't need to be an engineer or a data scientist to use it. You just need the confidence to start.

Whether you're in HR, comms, finance, education, marketing, leadership - AI can support your thinking, speed up your workflow, and open up space for creativity and strategy.

And more than that: It can be empowering. When you know how to use AI well, you stop falling behind and start feeling in control.

So what can we do about it?

We're really passionate about encouraging more women to get comfortable using AI, without the pressure to "become an expert."

Let's normalise women experimenting with AI tools in a safe, supportive way.

Let's create spaces where asking questions isn't embarrassing, it's encouraged.

And let's remind each other that using tools to help you work smarter doesn't make you less capable. It makes you resourceful.

Want to give it a go?

If you're a woman who's curious about AI but not sure where to start, I've got something for you.

We're running an online session in May where we'll cover the basics of AI, especially prompting, and how you can use AI in your work right now. No pressure. No jargon. Just a supportive space to explore.

Did I mention it's also free to join?

If this sounds like something you need, check out future linkedIn posts for details.