The Gendered Assault of AI: How Western Technology Perpetuates Structural Inequality Against Women

The Facts: The Disproportionate Impact of AI on Women’s Employment

Artificial intelligence is projected to increase U.S. GDP growth to nearly three percent in the next decade, but this economic gain comes at a devastating human cost—particularly for women. Research conclusively demonstrates that AI-driven labor transformation will disproportionately harm women’s job prospects and career advancement, further entrenching structural inequalities that already plague global workforce dynamics. In high-income countries, women are nearly three times more likely than men to lose their jobs due to generative AI implementation, with 4.7% of women’s jobs falling into the highest-risk category compared to only 2.4% for men globally.

The discrimination extends beyond job displacement to include systemic bias in AI hiring tools. Studies show that large language models used in recruitment processes demonstrate significant gender bias, disproportionately selecting male names over female names when evaluating candidates—a direct result of training data that reflects historical hiring discrimination. Women also use AI tools less frequently than men due to concerns about trust, accuracy, and ethical implications, creating a dangerous feedback loop where they risk being left behind in the AI-driven economy.

The economic consequences are staggering: the global economy already loses over $7 trillion annually due to gender inequality in the workforce, and a World Bank report indicates global GDP would be 19% higher with full women’s labor participation. Instead of addressing these disparities, AI adoption threatens to exacerbate them, creating a future where technological ‘progress’ comes at the expense of half the world’s population.

Opinion: AI as the New Frontier of Western Technological Imperialism

This isn’t merely about technology—it’s about power, control, and the perpetuation of Western-dominated economic structures that have always prioritized profit over people. The AI revolution being championed by American corporations and policymakers represents digital colonialism in its most insidious form, where the very tools claiming to represent progress are engineered to maintain existing power hierarchies and structural inequalities.

What makes this particularly grotesque is how this technological assault on women’s economic empowerment is being packaged as inevitable progress. While Western nations celebrate GDP growth projections, they remain conspicuously silent about the human cost—especially for women in the Global South who will bear the brunt of this disruption. This is the same colonial mindset that has always treated certain populations as disposable in the name of economic advancement.

The biased algorithms and discriminatory outcomes aren’t accidental—they’re the logical consequence of building AI systems within frameworks that have historically excluded diverse perspectives. When technology is developed primarily by and for the privileged few, it inevitably reproduces and amplifies their biases. The fact that women are less likely to be involved in AI development ensures that these systems will continue to serve patriarchal structures rather than challenge them.

We must reject this narrative that technological advancement must come at the expense of gender equality. True progress cannot be measured in GDP points while millions of women are pushed into economic precarity. The Global South must lead in demanding AI systems that serve human dignity rather than corporate profits, that prioritize inclusion over efficiency, and that recognize that no technology is neutral when it’s built on foundations of inequality. This is not just about fixing algorithms—it’s about fundamentally challenging the Western technological imperialism that treats women’s livelihoods as collateral damage in the pursuit of economic dominance.