The key facts

  • Women use AI less often than men, according to the Shorenstein Center at Harvard
  • Reasons: lack of confidence, absence of mentoring, wariness toward the technology, and lack of time
  • The gap is narrowing, but men's employment in AI professions is growing faster

The gender gap in AI use

Women use artificial intelligence tools less often than men. This is reported by Gazeta.Ru citing a study by the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard University, published by The Washington Post.

Reasons for the lag

The study's authors emphasize that the gap is not due to lower competence among women. Among the factors cited are lower self-confidence, a lack of support and mentoring from employers, and wariness toward a technology that, in respondents' view, may take away the enjoyment of work. Lack of time also plays an additional role: at home, women typically take on most of the housework and caregiving, while at work they often perform invisible labor in addition to their core duties. All of this, the study notes, can hinder professional development and promotion.

Dynamics and context

The gap is gradually narrowing, but men are still quicker to adopt new technologies, and their employment in AI-related professions is growing faster. Experts believe employers should create equal conditions for learning and using AI.

The cost of using AI

Additional context comes from an earlier study by ActivTrak Productivity Lab: users of AI tools turned out to have longer workdays than those who do not use them — by up to 90 minutes. The calculation is based on real data on the digital work of 9,140 employees from 467 companies for the period from April 1 to September 25, 2026. This suggests that adopting AI requires extra time — a resource that, according to the Harvard study, is more limited for women. It is also worth noting that the first study describes the situation in the American labor market; the publications contain no data on a comparable situation in other countries.