Machines vs Women

Feminist writers have long argued that gender and technology shape each other [1, 2]. Back in 1985, Donna Haraway considered how feminists could use technology to improve social progress in The Cyborg Manifesto. Then, Judy Wajcman introduced us to Technofeminism nearly 20 years later, and provided a framework for exploring how technology, gender, and power intersect [3]. Despite technologies in our society taking off over the past few decades, analyses on language, representation, and participation along the production chain of technologies indicates not so much has changed in relation to gender (and power). We still find that women are missing from the design and implementation of technologies. Women continue to be underrepresented in the field of AI, which in turn limits access to future opportunities while influencing the design and deployment of technology [4].

Thinking about the future of work in this way is a great reminder that it doesn't yet exist. We write, speak, and act it into existence in the present. The policy choices we make, the conversations we have, the funding we source, and the support we offer today will shape the future.

In a 2025 study of nationally representative survey data from roughly 8,000 UK respondents, researchers concluded that women's lower uptake of AI was driven by how they perceived the broader societal risks associated with the technology, and not by technological illiteracy nor lack of access [5]. The research around gender and uptake of new technologies is a small yet rapidly growing area of research, but I have to admit I think a lot of the time the wrong questions are being asked. "Why are women so distrustful of machines, automation, technologies?", the men folk howl. "Don't they want to unlock their potential?!?!?"

A much better question to ask would be - How does being a woman mean that machines consistently cause you harm? I trust you've read your copy of Caroline Criado Perez's Invisible Women [6] in which she lays out countless examples speaking to this point. Everything from safety equipment to city layouts tends to be male-centered in design. That means size, shape, comportment, responsibilities, threats, etc. that women have to manage do not factor in. So, unsurprisingly women are not unquestioningly all-in when something mechanised is for sale.

More to the point of the study, women are also at risk of being perceived as less competent at work when they use AI tools. A pre-registered experiment revealeda competence penalty on tech adopters with females being penalized more (13%) than their male counterparts (6%). Anticipating this competence penalty was associated with slower adoption among female engineers in the study. [7]

This ought not to come as a shock. During previous waves of technological change, ample research has shown technologies reproducing well-worn gendered patterns and divisions of labour [8]. Indeed, in Wajman's Technofeminism, she argues that society and technology are mutually shaping; that to shape potential technologies to come, it's imperative to include women as embodied participants all along the production chain. That means women are needed in the conception, design, trouble-shooting, critique, sales, and regulation of technologies.

So long as we continue to let the future happen to us, rather than purposely shaping it here and now, we will see a repetition of past inequalities, albeit at scale. Honestly interrogating systems that maintain inequality is crucial in creating real change. The usual logic applies for how to approach this seemingly overwhelming problem: scale down, find others, make new apparatus, rinse-repeat. Schedule snack and nap breaks.

It isn't overwhelming when we speak and act realistically. The future doesn't yet exist. Technologies are not neutral and so we must engage with them, and with society, to make them so.

So, are we riding at dawn or what? Who's in charge of sandwiches?

Works Cited

[1] Wajcman, Judy (1991) Feminism confronts technology

[2] Kelan, E. (2025). Man-Versus- Machine: Gender and Technology in Discourses on the Future of Work. Gender in Management: An International Journal. https://doi.org/10.1108/GM-09-2024-0513

[3] Wajcman, Judy (2004), Technofeminism.

[4] ILO Brief, Gen AI, occupational segregation and gender equality in the world of work. (2026). In International Labour Organization eBooks. https://doi.org/10.54394/00033798

[5] Stephany, F., & Duszynski, J. (2026). Women worry, men adopt: How gendered perceptions shape the use of generative AI. arXiv. https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.03880

[6] Perez, C. C. (2019). Invisible Women: Data bias in a world designed for men. https://www.amazon.com/Invisible-Women-Data-World-Designed/dp/1419729071

[7] Gai, P. J., Hou, J. and Tu, Y. Competence Penalty Is a Barrier to the Adoption of New Technology, (May 11, 2025). http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.5255039

[8] Howcroft, D. and Rubery, J. 2019. ‘Bias in, bias out’: Gender equality and the future of work debate. Labour & Industry 29 (2): 213–27.