AI and the New Glass Ceiling: Why International Women’s Day Feels Different in 2026

I am not one to feel particularly inclined to celebrate International Women’s Day.

Mostly because I think that fighting for our rights and for an equal world shouldn’t be something we think about once a year. A day where corporations feel better about themselves by creating pink products, fake campaigns where they showcase all the effort they supposedly make to create an equal environment, and “allies” fill themselves with pride convincing themselves they are not the enemy because they also once had a mother — or even better, a daughter.

I’m not going to list here everything that is currently wrong with the world and that, surprise, affects only women in different levels of atrocity: from sexual abuse, to violence, to disregard, lack of respect, lack of rights, or simply being invisible. Yes, we are far from where we were 100 years ago, but we are nowhere near equal.

 

Now Ai joins the list. AI influences the way we see the world. It does it in a silent way, in a way that you don’t realise it is happening until it’s too late. We could even call it manipulation and it sounds very strong: “AI is manipulating us.” But the truth is that until we fix a system that is biased by nature, it won’t be telling us the whole truth. 

The “Holding of Power”

The next few years of AI development will create the playing field that determines our future as women. 

As rightly pointed out by Dame Wendy Hall, professor at the University of Southampton, while the organisers were speaking about an equal future in AI (and it must be said here that India is one of the few countries where women’s AI talent actually surpasses men’s), the official photoshoot later on, with every CEO of every relevant AI company in the world, was entirely male.

If that isn’t a hold of power, I don’t know what is. I really doubt that we are not represented in that photo because of a lack of intelligence or because there is some secret skill that they have and we don’t. When one of those men, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, justifies the massive resources AI consumes by comparing it to a human baby consuming resources during its first 20 years, I really question if he knows what he’s doing, and I know for a fact we can do better.

The Talent Gap is Not Just an “IT Problem”

The main problem with having every major AI company run by men is, as usual, that they see things through their own lens. We have a total lack of representation at the top of the society infrastructure and every layer below.

Worldwide, men comprise 60% of AI talent versus 30% of women. If we look country by country, we see that, with the exception of India (mentioned before) and Saudi Arabia, in every other country men surpass women in AI talent. So you might ask: why make such a fuss about it now? Technology has always had more men than women.Yes. But this is not simply an IT job.

AI is a learning machine. It is trained with data by the people who create these systems, and it continues to learn from how we use it. If we don’t have women creating these tools, supervising the data, or even using the tools at the same rate as men, what do we get? 

The “Pink-Washing” of Tech

By the time I am writing this, I have spent two days at the Tech Show in London, where I was greatly surprised by the number of women speaking on panels. That ticks one box: representation. But as I was watching all these accomplished and amazing women talking about technology and AI, I couldn’t help but wonder how much of a real reflection of the industry this actually is. Have we become experts at pretending that visibility at the top of the iceberg is enough while we ignore the majority at the bottom?

Is this the equivalent of the “feminist” campaigns brands run every International Women’s Day? I mean, I received an email the other day offering 15% off facial treatments for International Women’s Day. Is that what our feminism efforts have granted us?

What Needs to Change (The “Bro Culture” Reality)

Beyond those thoughts, what I found in common with every woman in the room when discussing why there aren’t enough women in tech was the following:

• The “Bro Culture”: An overstimulated “gilet culture” where long hours, “licking ass,” and “I talk more, therefore I do more” is rewarded.
• True Representation: Yes, it’s good to have women speaking at conferences. But representation must exist everywhere, from your own company to the interview room where candidates are waiting. Seeing familiar faces, or someone who looks like you, makes you feel that you belong there.
• Stop the technical corporate jargon: Enough is enough. I understand that some men feel the need to prove their importance by using the most complicated terms possible. But that is far from intelligence. Start incorporating honest conversations in interviews. Don’t judge someone by the terminology they use, but by their ability to explain complex ideas simply. That’s how you spot the most intelligent person in the room. 
• If the skills are “desired”, say so: Many women won’t apply unless they hit 100% of the requirements. If the skills are desirable but not mandatory, say it clearly. You will attract more diverse candidates. And in the AI era, your most important skills are human ones anyway, regardless of gender.
• Give women the right support: Yes, women have children. And that does not make them weaker. In fact, it often makes them your strongest asset. If someone can sustain a career in tech (or any job really) while being the primary caregiver, that demonstrates resilience, organisation and strength. It should be rewarded, not penalised. Flexible working environments and proper maternity policies are not favours. These are strategies that ensures that your strongest talent stays instead of leaving.

The Data is Already Working Against Us

In terms of AI, we are in a worse position than ever. A May 2025 report (ILO/NASK) highlighted that 10% of female-dominated positions could be replaced by automation, compared to just 3.5% for men.

In the UK, 60,000 women in tech quit annually due to a lack of recognition and fair pay. Some of these women could have developed new AI technology, but they can’t if they leave.

Even at the entry-level, McKinsey reports that only 21% of women are encouraged by managers to use AI, compared to 33% of men. Why is that? How is this possible?

But bias is also systemic in the data itself. A recent investigation by AI Forensics analysed 10,000 Apple Intelligence summaries and found systematic bias in how notifications and messages are handled.

My Call to Action: We Need Legislation

We cannot wait for these companies to “do the right thing.” We need:

1. Legislation that ensures everyone has a fair chance to be trained in AI.
2. Laws that force companies to review their data for bias before training algorithms.
3. Mandatory diversity in the teams that produce and control these systems.

If they don’t do it themselves, we need to make them do it.

Otherwise, the decades that generations before us spent fighting for women’s rights may disappear under the weight of AI and how it is built.

The question is simple:

Will women help build it, or be shaped by it?