That’s the claim in an Axios story this week. Women are slightly more than a quarter of new hires in artificial intelligence jobs, according to new LinkedIn data. Men hold 80% of technical jobs, 80% of head AI positions, 76% of engineering positions, and 74% of AI director jobs.
The bottom line: “Women have long been underrepresented in the tech industry, particularly in leadership and technical roles. The AI boom is widening the divide.”
Is it discrimination? The claim has been a constant undercurrent when looking at areas where there are discrepancies in hiring and pay between men and women. It is important in thinking about AI because the sector is on a tear today and will be in the future. Looking under the hood at top-line statistics reveals a more complicated picture.
The WomenHack editorial team regularly updates a comprehensive database on tech statistics from multiple sources. The education pipeline no doubt explains some of the discrepancy, and it starts early. They report that only 5% of girls aged 13-17 list “tech” as their first career choice. Only 27% of young women, compared to 62% of young men, would even consider a career in tech. Many young women report that a career in tech has never been mentioned to them.
Citing 2025 data from the National Center for Education Statistics, WomenHack reports that women earn 21% of degrees in computer science. As a point of comparison, the latest statistics show they earn 46% of all science, technology, engineering, and math degrees.
But women are also overtaking men in many areas of academic achievement. They receive more bachelor’s, master’s, and doctorate degrees than men, although there are significant differences by academic discipline, particularly in the sciences. This education gap is likely to persist, according to new data. In a poll report on teenagers’ lives by my American Enterprise Institute colleague Dan Cox, 60% of teenage girls plan to pursue a four-year college degree after high school, compared to 36% of teenage boys. If their stated higher-education goals last, we could see more women in many different occupations in the future. The reality of men falling behind is an issue for society as well.
Moving up the age ladder in the WomenHack compendium, the data show that women leave the tech sector more often than men, and those who stay prefer remote work. Sixty-eight percent of women in tech prefer remote or hybrid work compared to 55% of men. Being in an office can matter for many reasons, including opportunities for promotions and mentorship. Some women’s AI workplace complaints are familiar, too. A bro culture in tech, and women’s general belief that they have to work harder to prove themselves, are popular explanations for why women leave. It would be foolish to suggest that there is no discrimination in this sector or others, but other factors weigh heavily on women’s advancement.
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Also important are the career preferences of women and men, which play a role in the disparities we see across many sectors. I’ve spent time looking at women’s interest in running for political office, for example. Studies show that young women are less confident about their ability to enter politics than men. Early mentoring can change this and attract more women. But many young women just don’t see running for office as attractive as some young men do. Frankly, as the data show, a political career is not that attractive for most young men, either.
Women have been advancing in most areas at a remarkable pace in recent decades, and they are 50% of hires in non-AI jobs. AI job postings have “roughly doubled” since 2023, according to the LinkedIn data, and the industry will need qualified women and men. But closing the gender gap in leadership in AI won’t be easy, and it won’t happen overnight, because no single factor explains it.