March 31, 2026

Why AI is Giving Women the “Ick”

23 minutes

Does using AI to optimize your schedule or do your research give you a distinct sense of unease? There’s something innate keeping women from incorporating new automation tools into their workflows, and it’s not just a lack of interest. Many are describing it as actual repulsion, and I want to understand why.

Women are facing a double disadvantage: they’re more likely to lose their jobs to AI, and they’re less likely to get jobs that the AI revolution will create. That significant gender gap deserves much closer exploration. So let’s dig deeper into why so many women are saying no to automated agents and what that means for our impending AI future.

Let’s unpack why AI is giving women “the ick” together, including:

How the billion-dollar AI industry highlights the invisible nature of “women’s work”;

Why women are perfectly positioned to see an often-overlooked truth about AI

What the studies say about why women aren’t adopting AI as readily as men;

Why the transformation to ideal AI agent manager isn’t going to happen overnight.

Related Links:

Abi Awomosu, “They Built Stepford AI and Called It ‘Agentic’” - https://abiawomosu.substack.com/p/they-built-stepford-ai-and-called

Episode 540, “The Double Disadvantage: AI, Women, and the Future of Work” - https://www.bossedup.org/podcast/episode540

Harvard Business School, “Global Evidence on Gender Gaps and Generative AI” - https://www.hbs.edu/ris/Publication%20Files/25023_52957d6c-0378-4796-99fa-aab684b3b2f8.pdf

Pew Research, “The ‘Leisure Gap’ Between Mothers And Fathers” - https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2013/10/17/the-leisure-gap-between-mothers-and-fathers/

Tressie McMillan Cottom at the Urban Consulate - https://www.instagram.com/reels/DUlNVvmka05/

Listen to “There Are No Girls on the Internet” - https://www.tangoti.com/

Mara Bolis, “The AI Gender Gap Paradox” - https://ssir.org/articles/entry/ai-gender-gap-paradox

Anne-Marie Slaughter, “Unfinished Business: Women, Men, Work, Family” - https://bookshop.org/p/books/unfinished-business-women-men-work-family-anne-marie-slaughter/aa05ce9043ac07ad

Ezra Klein, “How Fast Will A.I. Agents Rip Through the Economy?” - https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/24/opinion/ezra-klein-podcast-jack-clark.html

The Conversation, “Grok 4’s new AI companion offers up ‘pornographic productivity’” - https://theconversation.com/grok-4s-new-ai-companion-offers-up-pornographic-productivity-260992

EdX, “How to Close the Gender Gap in AI Jobs” - https://www.edx.org/resources/closing-ai-gender-gap

LinkedIn Learning Course, “Get Unstuck: Make a Plan to Move Your Career Forward” - https://www.linkedin.com/learning/get-unstuck-make-a-plan-to-move-your-career-forward

Bossed Up Courage Community - https://www.facebook.com/groups/927776673968737/

Bossed Up LinkedIn Group - https://www.linkedin.com/groups/7071888/

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

...more