Coursera Leader: Address the AI Gender Gap Before It Grows

The tech industry as a whole has established itself, in a lot of ways, as an unkind place for a woman. Women are underrepresented in STEM roles, half of the women in such positions report experiencing discrimination at work, and half of those who go into tech are out of the industry by the age of 35.

Barriers to entry can include not having the right degree or the right job titles or company names on your résumé, while obstacles to long-term success can include not receiving the same guidance or opportunities as others. The proliferation of artificial intelligence and machine-learning technology in the working world offers an opportunity to close this gap, but it also could get wider.

"You don't want anyone you know intentionally left behind when something starts to transform your economy and your society—you want everyone to have a shot to move forward," Trena Minudri, chief learning officer at online education provider Coursera, told Newsweek.

A number of cultural factors play a role in the fact that only 29 percent of all AI workers globally are women, such as stereotypes, an absence of role models, confidence gaps and uncertainty on how AI can impact their careers, Coursera's Learning Science Research Lead Alexandra Urban said in report released Tuesday.

Some AI models have also been found to show gender bias, which certainly does not help the cause. Not having women in the development of these technologies could only further that bias.

"When women aren't engaged in applying and designing GenAI models—like ChatGPT—existing social biases can become hard-coded into AI systems and amplified at scale," Urban wrote. "A recent Berkeley Haas Center for Equity, Gender and Leadership study of 133 AI systems found that 44 percent exhibited gender bias, and 25 percent showed both gender and racial bias. Without the perspectives of women developers, data scientists, and engineers, AI tools risk reproducing harmful stereotypes."

In addition to her role working with Coursera's corporate learning and development clients, Minudri also holds responsibility over the internal talent development strategy for the company's 1,200 employees.

"It's what we call our Customer Zero approach, where we do everything internally first, we make sure it works, and then we bring it to the outside," she explained.

Minudri has observed a gender gap in AI course enrollment from enterprise user data, with women comprising just 32 percent of participants in generative AI classes. She's making the push internally and externally to bridge that gap by encouraging women to explore AI training and AI-adjacent fields.

"When we see much higher involvement in GenAI training for men than women, that gap right now is a learning gap," Minudri said. "It's going to progress into potentially a skills gap that is going to progress into an economic career gap."

To overcome this gap, Coursera's research suggests developing female AI leaders among existing tech and AI workers, encouraging pathways into AI fields and a broad push for inclusion around the organization to make the field more welcoming.

"We're really kind of looking at this [gender gap] closely," Minudri continued, "because now's the time to do something."

This also includes developing pathways for anyone to enter the field, even if it may seem daunting.

"Lack of training, unclear AI guidelines and workplace policies often create uncertainty, leaving many—including women—unsure of how to engage with this technology," Merve Hickok, a University of Michigan professor and president of the Center for AI and Digital Policy, wrote in the Coursera report.

The Coursera report also found that women have a lower sense of generative AI's ability to benefit their careers compared to men. At the moment, the latest AI capabilities are nearing an expert level in coding proficiency.

"I think there's a lot of work there that we can do reaching women in the right arenas," Minudri said, "where they are to understand not only what GenAI is, but that this actually can help you advance in your career."