Marketers need to wake up to generative AI’s woman problem

In 2024, GenAI was a shiny marketing accessory, but 2025 is the year for serious deployment.

While much focus has been on low-cost, high-quality content creation, the real game-changer is AI’s agentic capabilities — predictive consumer insights, chatbot-driven websites, real-time campaign analytics, hyper-personalised communications and instant customer service.

But as we figure out this new universe of marketing possibilities for growth and efficiency, there is a conversation we need to have. Women are falling behind men in their adoption of GenAI, personally and professionally.

Marketing in Australia has admirably strong female representation at all levels, so it is critical that the incredible growth and career opportunities given to us by GenAI are taken up by all marketers regardless of gender. This is not just a gender equity issue; it’s also about the danger of unrealised economic growth for Australia. 

Adoption is moving fast — faster than internet and PC uptake in their early years. Generative AI had a 39.5% adoption rate after two years, compared to 20% for the internet and PCs (NBER 2025). 

Deloitte Australia 2024 research shows 63% of Australians agree that GenAI will have as big an impact as the internet had on business.

Yet, research shows a stark gender gap. A 2024 Slack study of 1,000 Australian office workers found 61% of men use GenAI, compared to only 40% of women. 

A US Qualtrics 2024 study (n=5014) echoed this trend, with 32.2% of men using GenAI at work to a small or large degree versus 23.3% of women.

This emerging skills gap matters because GenAI presents a once-in-a-generation opportunity to elevate marketing ROI and create incremental value for organisations. If we want AI driven productivity improvements and incremental economic growth with no gender pay gap, we need to understand and address this problem. 

Why are women slower to adopt AI?

The reasons are complex, spanning trust issues, workplace dynamics, and underrepresentation in AI leadership.

1. Trust and Perception Issues
   Women are more likely to distrust AI-driven decision-making unless they have high AI literacy. Concerns about bias, transparency and control remain significant barriers. Capgemini’s 2024 research found 75% of Australian GenAI users are worried about bias, potentially influencing lower female adoption rates. Education and transparency are key to building trust.
2. Workplace Dynamics and Training Gaps
   The Chicago Booth Review (2024) found that women often cite a lack of training as a barrier, while men more frequently point to employer restrictions or privacy concerns. Organisations must invest in AI training tailored to empower women in marketing roles.
3. Underrepresentation in AI Professions
   AI remains male-dominated, with women making up just 22% of AI professionals globally and only 14% in senior AI roles (Interface, 2024). A lack of female role models perpetuates a cycle of disengagement, widening the digital skills gap.

We hear hesitation from many senior women who wonder if using AI might be cheating or somehow undermine our hard-earned expertise. But after a year of fully immersing ourselves in AI, our perspective has changed.

AI doesn’t replace expertise — it enhances how we work, helps us do more, faster and better. We now have a constant marketing companion handling the routine (and not so routine!) tasks so we can focus on what truly matters — strategy, creativity, human connection.

Even writing this article, AI helped synthesize research and structure thoughts, but the final message, perspective, and rallying cry? That was all human. The real risk isn’t AI taking over marketing — it’s marketers who don’t embrace AI being left behind.

Call to action: It’s time to step up

So, what can we do?

1. Take time to make a plan. If you’re a woman in marketing, you probably need to think through a plan on how you embrace AI in your career, be on the front foot in your organisation.
2. Change the narrative. AI is a shortcut but it’s not cheating — it’s an essential tool that frees marketers to focus on what truly matters: human creativity.
3. Learn, experiment, and share. That’s why we’re launching ACAM (Australian Centre for AI in Marketing) — a for-purpose initiative making AI more accessible for all marketers, ensuring equal opportunity to lead in an AI-empowered future.

AI is transforming marketing. Let’s embrace the evolution equally and ensure that as marketers we maximise the AI productivity dividend that awaits us.

Jodie Sangster and Douglas Nicol are co-founders, Australian Centre for AI in Marketing

Free AI course from ACAM and RMIT

The Australian Centre for AI in Marketing (ACAM) would like to send a talented female marketer to complete the RMIT Artificial Intelligence in Marketing Course  probably the best AI course in Australia for Marketers. Please email us your name (or who you want to nominate) and LinkedIn profile link and say in 3 short bullet points why you should do this course. The winner will be objectively judged and chosen by an expert panel.

Please use subject line ‘AI course nomination’. Email your us nominations info@acam.ai byJuly 31, 2025. The course runs 5 times a year for 6 weeks and you can choose the start dates that suit you.