Only 3 out of 10 women in Reese Witherspoon's book club were using AI regularly when she posted about it. That stat is staggering.
This week's episode is a little different. I sat down with my friend Stephanie Mitton on her podcast, Women Don't Do That, to talk about the AI adoption gap between women and men, and the conversation went further than I expected. So instead of letting it live on her feed alone, I'm bringing our full chat to you here.
What you'll hear:
- Why the gap in AI adoption between women and men isn't about skill, it's about guilt and identity
- The "it's not cheating, it's choosing ease" mindset shift that changed how I think about using these tools
- The real wage premium and job disruption numbers tied to AI skills right now, and what they mean if you sit this one out
- How I built a "Family Command Center" with AI to run my household through back to back softball, pool parties and general summer chaos
- Why the environmental concerns people raise about AI deserve more nuance than a knee-jerk reaction (a real example from a Canadian data centre)
- The two actual skills that make you good at AI, and neither one is coding
Take the next step:
Introductory AI Course for Women: https://www.beaconmentorshipacademy.com/event-list
>>MEET STEPHANIE<<
Stephanie is the founder and CEO of Beacon North Strategies and the host of Women Don't Do That, a podcast about redefining what's possible for women in business, career and life. This episode originally aired as episode 230 on her show.
Original episode: https://www.womendontdothat.com/podcast/episode/399b3323/230-women-and-ai-why-women-cant-afford-to-be-left-behind-with-kelly-sinclair
More from Women Don't Do That: https://www.womendontdothat.com/
>>Introducing wAIv
This episode is brought to you by wAIv—our brand-new platform built for online experts who want to securely build and sell AI tools powered by YOUR thinking, YOUR frameworks and YOUR methodology.
wAIv helps you create Bot Squads—a suite of AI tools that work together to help your clients implement your expertise faster and with better results than ever before.
>>Your Next Steps:
🤖See what an AI tool built on your expertise actually looks like. Explore wAIv
🤖Train AI to sound like you (in under 2 hours) with BrandCalibrator™
Follow our new Instagram account @joinwaiv
>>Other resources mentioned
Women and AI use statistics:
- Harvard Business School, global evidence review: men's generative AI adoption was estimated at 47.8%, compared with 39.3% for women, across 76 sources and more than 100 countries. https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=66548
- Deloitte, women and generative AI: the adoption gap is closing, but a trust gap remains. https://www.deloitte.com/us/en/insights/industry/technology/technology-media-and-telecom-predictions/2025/women-and-generative-ai.html
- PwC found that workers with AI skills command a 56% wage premium, up from 25% the year before. https://www.pwc.com/gx/en/issues/artificial-intelligence/job-barometer/2025/report.pdf
- The World Economic Forum says that by 2030, 22% of jobs are expected to be disrupted, with 170 million new jobs created and 92 million displaced, for a net gain of 78 million jobs. https://www.weforum.org/press/2025/01/future-of-jobs-report-2025-78-million-new-job-opportunities-by-2030-but-urgent-upskilling-needed-to-prepare-workforces/
- Trust and safety: Deloitte's 2025 report. https://www.deloitte.com/us/en/insights/industry/technology/technology-media-and-telecom-predictions/2025/women-and-generative-ai.html
- Bias at work: UN Women, 2025. https://www.unwomen.org/en/news-stories/interview/2025/02/how-ai-reinforces-gender-bias-and-what-we-can-do-about-it
- Hiring and promotion: 2025 study on AI hiring tools favouring men for higher-wage roles. https://arxiv.org/abs/2504.21400
- Privacy, climate and labour concerns: 2026 UK study. https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.03880
- Women's jobs and economic risk: IMF 2024 report, about 60% of jobs in advanced economies exposed to AI. https://www.imf.org/-/media/files/publications/sdn/2024/english/sdnea2024001.pdf
- Deepfakes and abuse: UN Women, 2025. https://www.unwomen.org/en/news-stories/interview/2025/02/how-ai-reinforces-gender-bias-and-what-we-can-do-about-it
- Environment: 2026 UK study included climate impact as a concern linked to lower AI adoption among women. https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.03880
>>Learn more about AI
- Dr. Nici Sweaney, founder of AI Her Way: https://aiherway.com.au/
- Kinsey Soderberg and Joyce Hamilton, Her AI Club
>>Thanks for Listening!
- If you enjoyed this episode, please help us share it by:
- ⭐ Following the show—this helps you stay updated and supports us!
- ⭐ Leaving a positive review—this boosts our ranking and helps more entrepreneurs find the podcast.
--------------------------
Entrepreneur School is proud to be featured on the Feedspot list of 30 Best Canada CEO Podcasts!