About 15 years ago, Silicon Valley’s start-up explosion created a culture of hyper-growth, venture capital bravado, and disruption at all costs.

Much as the 1980s spawned the brick-mobile-wielding yuppie, the late 2000s produced a new archetype: young, hyperconfident male founders who embodied both innovation and entitlement. As tech became a dominant cultural force, the ‘tech bro’ became its unofficial mascot, personified by Mark Zuckerberg.

Now the pattern is repeating in artificial intelligence (AI), a field increasingly only associated with men. 

PERSISTENT ENCOURAGEMENT GAP

We’ve been sold the idea that AI will democratize opportunity. Yet as it becomes the defining skill set of modern work, women are being sidelined – not because of ability, but because of a persistent encouragement gap that shapes who feels welcome, confident, and ultimately future-ready.

Ema Fulga, founder of AI search optimization agency Decipher, has seen the dynamics up close. “In my experience, women aren’t pushed as much towards AI because there is a bias that we’re less technical and more inclined towards creative thinking and creative work,” she says. 

“For example, some people were surprised when I told them that I spent my days looking at numbers in Tableau, analyzing stats and trends, during my time as the head of affiliation at a Barcelona-based company.”

That surprise is revealing. When women are assumed to be less technical, they’re less likely to be encouraged, sponsored, or even casually nudged toward AI-related opportunities.

A TOP-DOWN EFFECT

The assumption that women aren’t interested is one of the most damaging myths of the AI era. It shifts responsibility away from organizations and onto women themselves, as if the gender gap were a matter of preference rather than environment.

In other words, the barrier isn’t competence, it’s confidence – and the social cues that shape it.

Interestingly, Fulga sees a different story unfolding in the Middle East.

“Women in the region are actively pushing to make the AI era theirs, which is different from what I see in Europe, to be honest. There is a lot of fear and worry around AI in Europe that I don’t see in the Middle East.”

She attributes this to a top-down effect: “AI as a technology is backed by the government, particularly in the UAE. Companies are looking to get involved in the many programs the government offers, so the people are driven to acquire the necessary skills, and they do; men and women alike.”

Younger women, she notes, are especially energized. “They are less intimidated by AI and tech in general. On the contrary, they’re excited to dive in.”

Rachel Lindsay, founder of The Digital Peach Marketing, who developed an AI platform that combines her expertise with smart automation, believes women need to see other women using AI to really understand how it can improve their lives.

“If you’re running a business and raising a family, when do you find time to try something new? Women want to really understand something before they use it, and they care about staying authentic. There’s a worry that AI might take away from that,” she says.

“But there’s another side. If you use AI in a way that really helps, it can free up your time for other things and help you deliver better products or services. Technology is always changing, and being open to learning is what brought me to AI. You don’t need a technical background to find new opportunities.”

EXPOSURE AND ENCOURAGEMENT MATTER

Career experts agree that exposure and encouragement matter – and when institutions signal that AI is for everyone, women respond. Aliya Rajah, a Dubai-based Executive Presence and Public Speaking Coach, sees the same pattern in her work with women leaders.

“Statistics from the World Economic Forum and UNESCO show that women make up roughly 20–30 percent of the global AI workforce, depending on region,” she notes. “In technical AI roles specifically, the percentage is often closer to 20% or lower. These figures are concerning and create barriers towards career progression.”

But the issue isn’t skill — it’s self-perception.

“Crucially, according to research, women’s and men’s capabilities do not differ much when it comes to technology. However, women’s self-assessed competence is a lot lower.”

This gap has real consequences. Women tend to wait for certainty, training, or social proof before adopting new tools. Men, Rajah says, often behave differently: “In my experience, many men want to be seen as associated with AI because it is perceived as a powerful and future-focused tool, even if they don’t necessarily agree with its direction or worry that it might be unethical.”

Women, by contrast, are more likely to weigh values, ethics, and long-term implications before jumping in. A Northeastern University study supports this: women are 11 percent more likely than men to see AI’s risks as outweighing its benefits – a gap that disappears when economic outcomes are clear.

The urgency is growing, and companies are no longer treating AI literacy as optional. 

Accenture, for example, has moved beyond experimentation and is now actively tracking how employees use its internal AI tools — with that usage feeding into performance reviews and promotion decisions. 

Internal communications reported in the UK media state that leadership roles will require “regular adoption” of AI. The consultancy has already trained 550,000 employees in generative AI and is rolling out training to all 780,000 staff as part of its $1 billion annual learning investment.

This is a clear signal that AI fluency is now a prerequisite for advancement. And if women are less encouraged — or less confident — they risk being disproportionately excluded from the next wave of leadership.

TACKLE THE ISSUE HEAD-ON

So, what should women do?

Rajah tells women to tackle the issue head-on. “Do not sit back and assume you can opt out. Be proactive, don’t wait for formal training or permission,” she says.

She also urges female professionals to embrace imperfection. “A lot of women hold back from opportunities or contributing to discussions because they want to be ‘perfect,’ but it’s important to own where you are and have a growth mindset.”

Lastly, she advises reframing AI not as a technical hurdle, but as a leadership accelerator: “If developing your leadership skills is important to you, then understanding AI should be a part of that.”

And what can companies do? 

“Audit everything”, says Sharona Hutton, Co-Founder of the Women of AI Agency, a speaker agency dedicated exclusively to representing women who shape the future of AI. “Your hiring tools, your promotion decisions, your AI systems – because 44 percent of AI systems already show active gender bias.”

She adds: “Invest in reskilling, particularly for women in roles that are most at risk from automation. And, measure it. The Alan Turing Institute has a Diversity Dashboard that tracks real-time gender inclusion metrics across platforms like Slack and GitHub. You can’t fix what you’re not watching.”