How AI Reinforces Gender Bias
AI systems are increasingly amplifying existing gender bias, particularly among younger male demographics influenced by online algorithmic ecosystems. I have written before about my concerns regarding this issue. What will happen when the Overton Window enters our workplaces with the unexpected backlash from Gen Z men towards gender balance? How will that impact our hiring processes when they are involved in people decisions?
Read: The Unexpected Backlash: Gender Bias in Gen Z Hiring Managers
This week, a study by former Meta strategist Zehra Chatoo, Founder of Code for Good Now, reported in Fortune, the following disturbing information. Two identical CVs were both written by AI and sent to 1,000 people. The only difference: one was named James, the other Emily.
- James got 97% approval rating and Emily 76%.
- Emily’s competence was twice as likely to be contested
- Emily’s trustworthiness was 22% more likely to be questioned.
The Workplace Risks of AI-Amplified Misogyny
When the reviewers knew that these candidates used AI, their input was as follows:
- Emily’s CV: “She can’t even write a CV herself, not sure she has the skills to carry out the job.”
- Jame’s CV: “He just needed a bit of help putting it together.”
The CVs were identical; the only difference was their gender and the final outcome.
When men use AI, we question their effort. When women use AI, we question their integrity.” Zehra Chatoo
However, it wasn’t the older readers who came out with the harshest reviews. Gen Z men are 3.5× more likely to call Emily’s CV “weak”. This comes from the generation growing up with AI, which was telling us AI is the great equaliser.
Let’s look at what the data actually tells us about this generation’s attitudes.
The increase of gender bias in our wider cultures
What this research shows:
- 27% Gen Z men globally say efforts to promote equality for all groups have gone too far, 6 points higher than Boomer men, and 11 points higher than Gen Z women. Ipsos Equalities Index 2024, 29 countries
- 59% Gen Z men agree that “when it comes to giving women equal rights with men, things have gone far enough.” Gen Z men and women are more divided on this question than any other generation surveyed. Ipsos / King’s College London, 30-country study, IWD 2025
- 57% of Gen Z men say we have gone so far in promoting women’s equality that we are discriminating against men. Among Gen Z women, only 36% hold this view, a 21-point gap, the largest of any generation. Ipsos / King’s College London, IWD 2025
- 60% of Gen Z men agree that men are being expected to do too much to support gender equality, 22 points higher than Gen Z women, and higher than Baby Boomers of either gender. Ipsos / King’s College London, IWD 2025
- 66% of young men globally regularly engage with masculinity influencers online, communities that frame feminism as a threat and men as victims of a rigged social system. Movember Foundation / UN Women
Psychologically Safe Teams | Workshop – 3Plus International
- 27% of Gen Z men globally say efforts to promote equality for all groups have gone too far, 6 points higher than Boomer men, and 11 points higher than Gen Z women. Ipsos Equalities Index 2024, 29 countries
- 59% of Gen Z men agree that “when it comes to giving women equal rights with men, things have gone far enough.” Gen Z men and women are more divided on this question than any other generation surveyed. Ipsos / King’s College London, 30-country study, IWD 2025
Why Gen Z Men Are Vulnerable to Algorithmic Radicalisation
The same algorithmic systems that Gen Z men use to discover helpful AI tools are also serving them content that tells them women’s progress comes at their expense. The manosphere, a loose network of online communities opposing feminism and promoting a return to traditional gender hierarchies, is not a fringe phenomenon anymore. It is mainstream content for a generation raised on personalised feeds, and the men who subscribe to these sites are increasingly holding positions of responsibility for women’s careers in their organisations.
The CV study is not an anomaly. It is the manosphere’s worldview showing up in hiring decisions, which I have written about before, so the bias is not only online, it’s already in our workplaces, with the human-in-the- loop, screening CVs, potentially thinking that women should be at home.
Inclusive Recruitment for Hiring Managers – 3Plus International
AI Bias in Recruitment and Workplace Systems
The broader picture covers a number of issues:
- Women are under-represented in AI creation and make up approximately 22-31% of AI professionals globally. While this number is growing, women remain significantly underrepresented in specialized, high-level, and leadership roles within the artificial intelligence field
- 25% AI adoption gender gap. Harvard Business School. The conclusion most people reach when they see the AI bias data: “women should be more confident with AI,” which misses the point entirely. Women are not being wary or irrational when they hesitate to use AI openly, but are reading the room correctly. The real problem is that while women are cautious, they are in yet another “doomed if they do and damned if they don’t” scenario. Those judging their usage (or lack of it) are buying into content that tells them women already have more than they deserve. It is another Goldilocks Dilemma – always trying to find the sweet spot and never being sure when it’s right.
- 86% of high AI-exposure roles with low capacity to adapt to displacement are held by women. Brookings Institution
What Employers Need to Understand About AI Bias
It’s important of indivuals and organisations take action as soon as possible. Businesses need to make the training of this cohort of hiring managers and recruiters in unconscious bias a priority and commit to auditing the algorithms in their hiring processes for proxy bias as a matter of urgency. If they don’t, these biases will become part of their organisation’s invisible infrastructure. They also need to challenge the Gen Z men who claim their generation has moved past gender bias, because the data is telling us a different story.
And for women in leadership reading this, it’s important to continue adopting AI and to advocate for training for all members of your teams – even the women who may be reticent. Women simply can’t afford to step back from AI and need to become part of the solution, not just the problem.
3Plus International works with CHROs to build bias-resistant hiring frameworks that don’t rely on individual goodwill because process design outlasts attitude change every time.
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