Most Tools Weren’t Built with Women in Mind — AI Is Just the Latest

If your seatbelt doesn’t fit quite right, it’s not you – it’s the system.

From the size of our phones to the way software assumes we think, most tools we use every day were never really built with women in mind. That includes AI — the shiny new tech promising to revolutionize how we live and work. But behind the scenes, it’s repeating the same old mistakes.

Historically, women haven’t just been underrepresented in innovation — we’ve been systematically left out of the design process, the data, and the default settings. The result? Tools that are less effective, less safe, or simply irrelevant for half the population.

AI is the latest frontier. But it’s not the first.

And unless we build it differently, it won’t be the last.

This Isn’t New: A History of Overlooking Women

Let’s rewind.

Women have been excluded from design and decision-making for decades — and it shows.

• Crash test dummies: For years, car safety tests used only male-sized dummies. That means seatbelts, airbags, and even the positioning of the driver’s seat were all calibrated to male bodies. In 2011, a University of Virginia study found that women were 47% more likely to be seriously or fatally injured in a crash — not because they drove worse, but because they were never considered in the safety design.
  
• Medical research: Until 1993, women were largely excluded from clinical drug trials. As a result, women were misdiagnosed, mistreated, or overdosed on medications tested only on men’s bodies. The assumption? That women were “too complex” to include in the studies.
  
• Voice technology: Voice assistants like Siri and Alexa were trained on male voices — so they struggled to recognize higher-pitched or accented female voices. Even now, many default to female personas while still prioritizing male-coded communication styles in their logic models.
  
• Office environments: From temperature controls (set to suit the average male metabolism) to “standard” desk heights, the modern workplace has long prioritized male comfort over inclusion.
  

These examples aren’t just bugs in the system.

They are the system – a system where women’s needs, experiences, and innovations are treated as afterthoughts.

 Enter AI: The Next Frontier of Bias

If history has taught us anything, it’s that when women aren’t part of the design, the product doesn’t fit.

Now, artificial intelligence is reshaping everything — from hiring decisions and legal advice to health diagnostics and business strategy. But while the technology is new, the bias is familiar.

At its core, AI learns from data. And most of that data? It’s scraped from the internet, corporate documents, and publications that overwhelmingly center male perspectives and experiences. 

In short: today’s AI is trained on yesterday’s bias.

Let’s break it down:

• Ask some AI tools to show you an “entrepreneur” and you’ll get a lineup of white men in suits.
  
• Request a list of “top business influencers”? Women are often underrepresented — or entirely missing.
  
• AI-generated job application suggestions often push women toward support roles, not leadership.
  

Even the advice changes depending on who the system assumes you are. And if it’s trained on biased content, it will replicate those patterns — not challenge them.

Women know the stakes — and it’s holding them back.

HBR estimate that women are adopting AI tools at a 25% lower rate than men. 

When digging into why, it’s not about ability. It’s about trust, exposure, and relevance.

Many women feel:

• Concerned that using AI at work may be perceived as “cheating”
  
• Uncertain about how to use AI ethically and strategically
  
• Uninspired by tools that weren’t designed for how they think, lead, or grow
  

When the default isn’t made for you, it takes extra courage and energy to learn.

So once again, we’re stuck adapting to tools instead of designing them to work for us.

And here’s the real danger: AI isn’t just a tool, it’s a decision engine.

The more we rely on it, the more its blind spots become our blind spots.

And if women are hesitant to engage, we risk being written out of the future we’re trying to build.

Why It Matters (And What We Lose Without Inclusion)

We’re not just talking about flawed tools.

We’re talking about a future being built without half the population fully at the table!

AI is becoming the invisible infrastructure of modern life — shaping everything from job applications to product recommendations, health insights to leadership decisions.

And yet, the systems powering this transformation are missing a vital ingredient: women’s voices, values, and vision.

When women are excluded from the design, development, and deployment of AI, here’s what happens:

We lose innovation.
Women bring different experiences, perspectives, and priorities. That’s not just diversity — it’s strategy.

Innovation thrives on variety. Homogenous data and male-centric models limit what’s possible.

We lose trust.

If women don’t see themselves in the outputs — or worse, are misrepresented — they’re less likely to use the tools at all.

And when women opt out of AI, we all lose a critical group of leaders, creators, and customers.

We widen the gap.

As AI becomes a competitive edge, the confidence and capability gap grows.

Men advance faster in AI-literate environments. Women get left catching up.

And the systemic imbalances we’ve been fighting for decades? They continue.

We miss the chance to create something better.

What if this time, we built with intention?

What if women’s rhythms, realities, and aspirations weren’t afterthoughts, but blueprints?

That’s what Empressa is here to do.

The Empressa Perspective

At Empressa, we believe the solution isn’t just building better tools. It’s rethinking who gets to shape them in the first place.

We don’t have to accept systems that weren’t built for us.

We can create new ones — rooted in inclusion, insight, and lived experience.

What if…

• AI learned from diverse women’s stories, not just generic datasets?
  
• Confidence came from tools that actually reflected how women think, work, and lead?
  
• Expertise wasn’t judged by your title, but by the impact of your experience?
  

We believe AI can be a force for good — but only if we build it differently.

And that starts by asking better questions, challenging old assumptions, and making space for new voices at the design table.

Not just as users. But as architects.

This moment isn’t just about AI. It’s about power, perspective, and possibility.

If you believe women should be at the center (not the margins) of innovation…

You belong in this movement.Join our newsletter to get insights, inspiration, and updates from women building the future — with AI you can trust.