Women in AI Quarterly Index: The Rise of the Digital Riveter
With the launch of our Women in AI Quarterly Index, Empressa is bringing together the data, insights, and real-world experiences that reveal where women stand in the AI economy—and where we must go next.
If you’ve ever seen the iconic “We Can Do It” poster — the woman in the blue work shirt, hair tied in a red polka-dot scarf, arm flexed in fierce determination — that’s Rosie the Riveter.
She wasn’t a real person. She was a symbol.
A rally cry created in the 1940s to recruit women into factory and shipyard jobs during World War II. But something bigger happened. Women entered the workforce and transformed entire industries, rewrote what was possible, and proved their power in places they were never “supposed” to be.
Today, as the world stands on the edge of the AI era, Rosie’s spirit is rising again. But this time she’s digital.
Appearing in boardrooms, classrooms, hospitals, startups, and every digital space where the future is now being welded into place.
At Empressa, we call this movement the rise of the Digital Riveter — and it’s why we created the Women in AI Quarterly Index.
Introducing The Women in AI Quarterly Index
AI is moving faster than any technology in modern history.
And while opportunities are expanding, the gender gap is widening at the exact moment when women’s voices, leadership, and judgment are most needed.
Yet until now, the story of women in AI has been scattered across dozens of reports, each offering pieces of the puzzle but not the full picture.
We built the Women in AI Quarterly Index to change that.
Our goal is simple: Track the state of women in AI.
This quarter’s edition reveals something both urgent and hopeful.
AI is becoming the new factory floor — the foundation of modern work.
What the Data Tells Us: A Workforce at a Crossroads
Despite a surge of interest, women remain dramatically underrepresented in the roles that shape AI’s direction:
- Just 22–29% of the AI workforce
- 14% in senior AI leadership
- 10% in top technology leadership
- 12–18% in critical research roles
These numbers aren’t just statistics — they’re signals.
Signals that AI is being shaped without the lived experiences, ethical instincts, and human-centered insights women bring.
And the stakes couldn’t be higher.
AI is now the engine behind hiring systems, medical decisions, financial approvals, educational access, product design, marketing strategy, safety protocols, and even the legislation that governs daily life.
When women aren’t at the table, the world built by AI becomes narrower, less fair, and less innovative.
The Frontier Firm: A New Model for Work
The Index highlights a dramatic shift Microsoft calls “The Year the Frontier Firm Is Born.”
A Frontier Firm is a company where humans and AI agents work side by side — a system where employees become “agent bosses,” managing hybrid teams that can automate, analyze, and execute at unprecedented speed.
In this new model:
- job descriptions blur
- roles evolve rapidly
- human creativity becomes the differentiator
- and leadership looks radically different
But here’s the key insight:
Women cannot lead in Frontier Firms unless they are intentionally supported, trained, and elevated within them.
Access alone doesn’t work. Surface-level “AI training” doesn’t work. Token programs don’t work.
So what does?
What We Learned From Training 166 Women Across the Globe
When Empressa launched our first global AI Foundations for Women training event on November 7, 2025, we didn’t know exactly what would unfold.
We knew women were eager. We knew the gap was real.
But the experience revealed something far deeper — and far more important — than we expected.
Across 33 cohorts, we witnessed a pattern that no statistic could fully capture: Women weren’t just learning AI. They were building confidence and experimenting without fear. They were asking sharper questions, challenging assumptions, and stepping into leadership in real time.
And through it all, a new insight emerged — one powerful enough to shape this entire Quarterly Index:
When women are given the right environment, they don’t simply adopt AI. They accelerate it, elevate it, and redefine what responsible AI leadership can look like.
That insight became the heartbeat of this report.
What We Uncovered
Running this global program revealed three major truths:
- Women don’t thrive with AI when left to learn alone. The “self-paced” model is failing them — and the numbers prove it.
- The learning environment matters more than the learning content. Psychological safety, peer encouragement, and real-world examples changed everything.
- When women learn together, adoption skyrockets. Completion. Confidence. Leadership behaviors. All of it shifted inside a community.
And here’s the part that surprised even us: We saw women move from hesitation… to experimentation… to contribution… in a single session.
These moments — small on the surface, transformational underneath — revealed the patterns behind women’s success in the AI era.
Patterns that became the foundation of a new model for leaders, companies, and learning organizations.
A Framework Born From Real Women, Real Data, Real Experience
Inside the full report, we introduce a three-phase model that emerged directly from what we observed during our global training program.
It’s a blueprint for leaders who want to:
- build equitable AI teams
- accelerate adoption among women
- and prepare their workforce for the realities of hybrid human–AI roles
But the framework is just the beginning.
The real value is understanding how women learn AI, why certain environments work, and what companies must do now to avoid falling behind.
If you want to understand the future of AI leadership, this is your roadmap.
Download the full Women in AI Quarterly Index and see:
- the patterns we uncovered
- the barriers holding women back
- the conditions that unlock breakthrough growth
- and the blueprint every organization will need in the AI era
Because AI will reshape every job, every company, and every leader.
And women deserve to help shape it.