How AI is being adopted to accelerate gender equity in the workplace

Some forward-thinking businesses are already leveraging this AI opportunity. And through strong leadership and a continued commitment to greater equity, diversity, and inclusion, the proliferation of these practices presents a real opportunity. The potential dividend being an acceleration of progress on gender equality, and a reduction in wider structural inequities.

Here’s three examples of how AI is being adopted to support inclusion.

1. Supporting fairer talent acquisition, advancement and mobility. AI, with the right guardrails on development and accountability, can help minimise human biases that can arise in recruitment, promotion, and other talent management decisions. Examples might include a misconception that a candidate’s past experience is more important than their future potential, or that taking a career break is a negative factor. Organisations are using AI to design their people systems in ways that help minimise the impact of these biases that have long held women back.
2. Delivering personalised skill development at scale. More and more organisations are using AI – and increasingly generative Artificial intelligence (GenAI) – to run their learning and development programmes in ways that are far more personalised for individuals than was possible in the past. This means deploying an AI-based skills stack to provide bespoke, targeted reskilling and upskilling opportunities for each employee, including learning tailored to address any specific, quantified skills gaps identified by women or other underrepresented groups in the workforce.
3. Creating immersive learning experiences. By combining AI with virtual reality (VR), it’s possible to create and deliver compelling, immersive experiences that allow people to understand the experiences of those from marginalised groups, and deepen their empathy for others. This enables leaders and decision-makers to see the world through the eyes of those who experience stereotyping and unconscious bias. A great example is PwC UK’s In My Shoes intervention: a VR-powered racial awareness training tool that helps partners and staff empathise more, shift stereotypes, strengthen their inclusive leadership skills – and become better advocates for inclusion.

However, it’s also important to explore the scale of concerns about AI that need to be addressed before it can be considered an optimal tool in the fight for greater workplace inclusion. In fact, some of the problems are so fundamental that – if not addressed urgently – there is a risk they could contribute to gender inequity.

Lack of gender balance in design: Take women’s representation in technology jobs. Globally, women still only account for less than one-third of employees in the tech sector, and only 22% of AI workers. Yet, if AI is to truly meet the future needs of society, more balanced gender representation in its design will be critical to mitigating the perpetuation of unintended and embedded biases.

Lack of gender balance in leadership positions: Research indicates that women account for just 8% of Chief Technology Officers (CTOs) in the US, and a similar figure in financial services organisations globally. CTOs’ decisions on the use of AI are shaping tomorrow’s workplace – and input from women is lacking, meaning less account is taken of their views, needs and experiences.

Lack of transparency and accountability: Like any data-driven tool, AI algorithms depend on the quality of data used to train the AI model. All too often, AI models effectively operate as a “black box” whose decisions are not widely understood. This makes bias much harder to spot and address, and reduces trust more broadly. To date, research has shown that AI systems can entrench and even exacerbate existing biases in areas such as criminal justice and recruitment.

To sum up, there is a lot of work to do and a clear call to action to get more women involved in AI and more leaders involved in the opportunities AI offers to accelerate women’s inclusion and progression.

The decisions that today’s business leaders are making about AI are helping to reinvent their businesses and workplaces. As they navigate their journey of AI adoption, there are pitfalls to avoid that could potentially undermine women’s opportunities. It is also clear, however, that AI offers tangible opportunities to accelerate women’s inclusion in the workplace.

Put simply, AI – used properly – can open the way to a new and more inclusive era for women at work. Let’s all strive to make that happen.

Last updated on 15 April 2024.