In Gloria Steinem’s living room—a space that has witnessed nearly six decades of empowering movements—we helped one of feminism’s most influential leaders explore AI tools for the first time. The moment felt like a powerful intersection of past and future. After all, artificial intelligence could become the most pivotal tool yet for advancing equality—or it could set us back decades. The choice depends on whether women (as well as anyone from marginalized backgrounds) are able to fully embrace and help shape the technology that is rapidly transforming our world. But as we sat with this remarkable icon in her home where countless leaders have shared their stories and planned for change, we confronted an uncomfortable truth: women are once again being left behind.
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We urgently need more women building AI technologies, and the fact that women make up less than a third of AI professionals and only 18% of AI researchers globally is a crisis that demands attention. But this isn’t just a pipeline problem; women everywhere need to start using AI tools in their daily lives and work. In AI training programs, women represent just 28% of enrollments worldwide. Studies show women are 16 percentage points less likely than men to use AI tools in the same job. This reluctance creates a dangerous cycle: as women hesitate to adopt these technologies, they fall further behind in both the workplace and a society increasingly shaped by AI.
But this time could be different. The good news? You don’t need a computer science degree or corporate backing to start using AI. Many of the tools are free and available to anyone with a computer or smartphone.
The better news? This moment presents a chance to condense generations of progress into years.
Imagine having a mentor available at any hour, offering guidance without judgment. Master new skills at your own pace, free from the weight of imposter syndrome that haunts so many women in male-dominated spaces. Consider the liberation of automating away the endless administrative tasks at work and domestic duties at home that have drained women’s time and energy for decades. This technology could be more than just another tool; it could be the great equalizer we’ve been fighting for, giving women the support, efficiency, and confidence that the prior systems have consistently failed to provide.
The potential for AI to address the systemic barriers facing women is extraordinary, particularly in mentorship, an area where we’ve witnessed the consequences of inequality firsthand, from feeling underprepared for leadership roles to lacking the mentors that men took for granted through their “old boys’ networks.” We have both, at times, had to forge new paths without established role models. This systemic lack of guidance remains a barrier to equality, with women 24% less likely than men to get advice from senior leaders, and for women of color, the gap is even wider, with nearly 60% never having had an informal interaction with a senior leader. With tools like ChatGPT, every woman can now have a mentor in her pocket—one that helps her rehearse difficult conversations and provides the continuous support that was historically only available to those with strong networks.
This technology could also be powerful in addressing the confidence gap that has held women back for generations, the self-doubt and internalized societal messages women often carry that undervalue their abilities and discourage risk-taking, particularly in public or male-dominated arenas. Today, we see similar patterns in women’s hesitation to adopt AI technologies. But with these tools, it’s possible for women to get feedback on overly apologetic language in their emails, help preparing for salary negotiations, coaching on presentations, and support identifying the achievements they may be underselling on their resumes.
What’s more, research shows that when women overcome this initial hesitation, they often outperform their male counterparts. The key differentiator? Not technical skills, but the confidence and a willingness to experiment. The barrier isn’t capability; it’s access and training. Women who ease into using AI—perhaps using generative AI to draft a challenging email or prepare talking points for a meeting—quickly discover how these tools can augment their work and amplify their voices and expertise.
To be sure, bias is fundamentally embedded into the AI tools themselves, and we must acknowledge there are also very real dangers that AI poses for women. We’ve already seen AI tools perpetuate gender stereotypes, from job recruitment algorithms that favor male candidates to image generators that hypersexualize women. Deepfake technology disproportionately targets women with fake intimate images. AI chatbots have been found to give different career advice to users depending on their gender. These significant threats could bake old prejudices into new, more dangerous forms.
But this is precisely why women’s involvement in AI is not optional. It’s imperative. Who better to identify and correct gender bias in AI systems than those who have spent their lives recognizing and fighting it in human systems? Who better to ensure AI tools respect and protect women’s privacy and dignity than those who have long fought for these basic rights? The solution to biased AI is not to abandon the technology but to flood it with women’s perspectives, experiences, and values.
The beauty of this moment is AI’s accessibility. Begin with simple, free tools. Ask ChatGPT or Claude to help draft emails or plan your next trip. Research a topic on Perplexity. Have NotebookLM create a personal podcast about something you’ve wanted to learn. And share your experiences with other women—bring it up in your next call with friends or start a learning group at work. The most revolutionary acts often begin with women coming together to share their stories and knowledge, as they have for nearly 60 years in Gloria’s apartment.
The feminist movement has always been about expanding possibilities and breaking down barriers. We now face a critical inflection point: will we allow AI to reinforce existing power structures, or will we harness it to create the equitable future we’ve long fought for? Indeed, can AI be a democratizing force for all those underrepresented?
As we left Gloria’s apartment, she reflected on what she had learned about AI and her words captured the possibility ahead: “You’ve created a whole universe here that didn’t exist before.”