UN Women Warns Gender Gap in AI is Hardwiring Bias into Tech

By: WE Staff | Wednesday, 18 February 2026

• Women account for 30% of AI experts worldwide, as reported by UN Women
• UN Women reports that the gender gap in AI development is perpetuating bias in AI
• These statements were made at the launch of the AI Casebook on Gender and Agriculture at the AI Summit

According to UN Women, women account for only 30 percent of the workforce in artificial intelligence (AI) globally and only 16 percent of the research positions in AI.

The group fears that this gender imbalance in the development of AI is contributing to the "integration of bias into one of the most transformative technologies in the world."

Speaking at the AI Summit after the release of the AI Casebook on Gender and Agriculture, Christine Arab, the UN Women Regional Director for Asia Pacific, said that the absence of women in AI is causing a "design gap" with profound implications.

She said that the absence of women in design, from development to testing, means that bias is the default setting and not an afterthought. Christine noted that the absence of women in the design of AI systems means that the systems developed may not necessarily capture the needs of women.

She noted that the imbalance in the development of AI has profound implications in areas that are important to women, including health, financial inclusion, climate change, and personal security.

AI systems developed without the input of diverse groups are likely to perpetuate inequalities rather than solve them.

Nonetheless, Christine commended the Indian Government’s active role in narrowing the gap between genders within the area of new technologies and recognized that India continues to be one of the few nations to have made measurable advancements in this area; however, she mentioned that there is still work to be done by the world population to find solutions.

With respect to AI's design, Arab expressed concerns regarding the economic dangers that AI poses to women; according to a joint study conducted by UN Women and LinkedIn, nearly eighty per cent (80 percent) of women in the Asia Pacific region are working in occupational levels that will be “augmented or disrupted” by AI technology. 

She concluded by saying that all segments of society should have input in the development of AI, not just a few.