AI Prosperity for All: Women, Work, and the Adoption Gap We Must Close

AI will define the winners and losers of the next decade. And right now, half the workforce is being left behind.

The data is sobering: 81% of men use AI at work. But for women, that number drops to 59%. Women adopt generative AI 25% less often than men, even with equal access. They’re disproportionately represented in the jobs most likely to be automated.

This is a strategic risk. A workforce that doesn’t fully adopt AI is a workforce that underperforms: missed revenue opportunity, innovation drag, and cultural liability.

I’ve felt that gap firsthand. In Japan, I was one of only two women in a room of ten executives discussing the future of data and AI; the other woman was an interpreter. A week later, at the Salesforce Innovation Center with a major German customer, I was the only woman in a room of fifteen.

These moments aren’t unusual, and that’s the problem. When women are underrepresented in the rooms where AI decisions are made, they’re also underrepresented in the adoption curves that shape the future of work.

The Wake-Up Call: Adoption Isn’t Neutral

• 81% of men vs. 59% of women use AI at work.

• Women adopt generative AI 25% less often even with equal access.

• Women are overrepresented in the roles most likely to be automated.

If leaders stay passive, that gap will widen into a prosperity divide: one that shapes who thrives and who’s left behind in the AI economy.

What Happens When Inclusion Is Intentional

At Salesforce, we’ve seen the opposite story unfold. When AI adoption becomes everyone’s job, not just “the technical team’s”, the results are extraordinary:

• 94% of our engineering teams now use AI daily.

• Pull requests are 30% faster.

• 84% case resolution managed by Agent Managers

More importantly, the quality of innovation changes. When more voices are equipped to experiment, more ideas surface. Creativity compounds. And the organization moves faster and smarter.

Want to dive deeper into our AI adoption process at Salesforce? Check out this blog I wrote with Shruti Merkhedkar-Hardas, Senior Director, Engineering Operations & Strategy here.

5 Moves to Close the Gap

Leaders have the power, and the responsibility, to change this trajectory. Here’s how:

1. Measure adoption by gender and role. What you don’t measure, you can’t change.

2. Design on-ramps, not obstacles. Make AI tools frictionless and easy to try in daily work.

3. Make role models visible. Spotlight women who are early adopters. You can’t be what you don’t see.

4. Invest in confidence, not just tools. Offer workshops, mentorship, and “AI office hours” to build capability and safety.

5. Reward outcomes. Celebrate measurable wins that come from inclusive adoption, and tell those stories loudly.

Field Note: From Skepticism to Skills

In a joint session hosted by AsiaPacforce + Salesforce Women’s Network with Andi Litz, we introduced non-technical teams to Google NotebookLM, showing how it could turn scattered research into actionable briefings in minutes.

We generate tons of personal data: LinkedIn profiles, quarterly check-ins, performance reviews, 360 feedback, and more. But turning all that information into a clear, compelling narrative isn’t always easy. What if you could use that data to refine your personal story with precision and impact? Good news: with today’s AI tools, you can.

The transformation was instant: people who had dismissed themselves as “not technical” became confident users in a single session. This is what inclusion in action looks like.

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Why Representation Matters

This is also why the visual matters. It’s not just a group photo, it’s a message: “You can’t be what you don’t see.” When women see women leading with AI, adoption stops being a question. It becomes a movement.

During #SFTechWeek I had the chance to join an incredible group of women leaders pushing AI from intelligence into action, in a room filled with real optimism and momentum. Hosted by InstaLILY AI and Wilson Sonsini, we brought together founders, operators, and investors who are shaping how AI gets adopted and governed in the enterprise. I was honored to share the stage with Hilary Headlee of Insight Partners, Paige Bailey of Google DeepMind, Lianna Whittleton of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, and our moderator Sasha Newman-Oktan of InstaLILY AI, for a conversation focused on responsibility, impact, and the future of agentic systems.

This week, I participated in Chief’s ChiefX 2025 Summit. It was great to be a part of The Executive’s AI Playbook panel along with Jessica (Jess) Ma of Inflection AI, and Daniela Busse, Ph.D. of GEICO and formerly of Meta Incubation Research, moderated by Molly Wood. And I got to shout out my Chief Core group from the stage, too! Our connection is magnetic, Claire Magat Selden, Jennifer Harrington, Adanta Ahanonu, Julianne Averill, Lindsay Alexovich, Shruti Bhat, Sara Xi, and Swati Punatar Reichmuth.

The Next Inclusion Imperative

Inclusive AI adoption is a growth lever hiding in plain sight.

At Salesforce, when we made adoption a company-wide responsibility, innovation accelerated and performance followed. The same approach applies across industries: diverse teams build better products, find new use cases, and future-proof the enterprise.

This is the next inclusion imperative, and it belongs in the boardroom:

• Measure AI adoption by cohort.

• Make inclusive enablement a C-suite KPI.

• Tie adoption to outcomes, not just access.

The companies that lead in the next decade will be those that make AI prosperity for all a strategy.

👉 Boardroom question for your next meeting: What’s our plan to close the AI adoption gap in the next 90 days?

This newsletter was written in collaboration with Andi Litz, Employee Success Business Partner and Kaycee Oyama. Both Andi and Kaycee are passionate about coaching teams on career development.