The GenAI Gender Gap

January 10, 2025

There is a gender gap when it comes to GenAI.

Just 26.3% of the European Union’s artificial intelligence (AI) professionals are women, according to a report from LinkedIn.

In my work with of the Women for Ethical AI (W4EAI) UNESCO platform, we had similar findings in our gender outlook study.

An AI-generated image of a group of women.

There are no easy solutions to this gap, but for those working in this area, some five concrete things you can do to promote gender inclusion (and equity in general) are:

  • 
Invite women into leadership roles, strategic planing for artificial intelligence and advanced technology.
  • Ensure that policies explicitly include women, girls, and other equity-deserving groups.
  • Invite women (and in particular, early career women and those who are precariously employed) to share and showcase their expertise and knowledge (and compensate them for their contributions).
  • Create formal sponsorship programs for women and girls who want to develop their knowledge and cp-competencies related to AI, with ongoing opportunities for learning and skill development.
An AI-generated image of a group of women.

There are a myriad of ethical complexities when it comes to artificial intelligence and gender is only one of them. Acknowledging inequalities and then working to support equity, fairness, and justice will remain ongoing work in the years to come.

References

AI in the EU: 2024 Trends and Insights from LinkedIn. (2024). https://economicgraph.linkedin.com/content/dam/me/economicgraph/en-us/PDF/AI-in-the-EU-Report.pdf

United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). (2024). UNESCO Women for Ethical AI: Outlook study on artificial intelligence and gender. https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000391719

________________________

Share this post: The GenAI Gender Gap – https://drsaraheaton.com/2025/01/10/the-genai-gender-gap/

This blog has had over 3.7 million views thanks to readers like you. If you enjoyed this post, please ‘Like’ it using the button below or share it on social media. Thanks!

Sarah Elaine Eaton, PhD, is a Professor and Research Chair in the Werklund School of Education at the University of Calgary, Canada. Opinions are my own and do not represent those of my employer. 

Comments Off on The GenAI Gender Gap | artificial intelligence, education | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Sarah Elaine Eaton, Ph.D.

Why speaking up is hard to do: Science shows smarts can lead silence

February 8, 2012

Sarah Eaton education literacy speaker CalgaryHave you ever sat there like a lump in a group setting, not knowing what to say? Well, researchers at the Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute have figured out why. Their research study was recently highlighted in the Wall Street Journal. The general gist of it is that if someone perceives that others in a group are smarter or more successful, they will retreat and say less… or nothing at all. Journalist, Elizabeth Bernstein reports that:

“The clamming-up phenomenon seems to be more common in women and in people with higher IQs”.

So, those most likely to keep their traps shut in a group setting are the smart women. (Hhhmmm… Interesting… I am pretty smart and I find it really, really hard to speak up in a group setting, particularly if there are loud, dogmatic extraverts in the group.)

The article went on to say that people who experience this phenomenon are more likely to quietly and silently panic in a group situation, while at the same time being “more attuned to group social dynamics, subconsciously worrying about their performance and evaluating themselves in relation to others”. (Wow, does that ever ring a bell.)

There was no indication that the research also examined language or cultural influences. It make me wonder though… If this is a social phenomenon that applies to native speakers, how much worse does it get for non-native speakers who are in a social setting where “more successful” or “smarter” might also be equated with “more fluent”?

As I reflect on my experience as a language learner, my sense is that this phenomenon would be amplified exponentially in a second language setting. What do you think?

Check out the article in the Wall Street Journal.

____________________________

Share this post: Why speaking up is hard to do: Science shows smarts can lead to silence http://wp.me/pNAh3-1dO

Update – January 2018 – This blog has had over 1.8 million views thanks to readers like you. If you enjoyed this post, please “like” it or share it on social media. Thanks!

Sarah Elaine Eaton is a faculty member in the Werklund School of Education, University of Calgary, Canada.

4 Comments | education, research, second languages, Uncategorized | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Sarah Elaine Eaton, Ph.D.