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Research Snapshot

Gender and AI: Where's the Harm?

Led by Dr Elise Stephenson, Victorian Women’s Trust Feminist Researcher in Residence 2026, this is a landmark attempt to map the gendered harms of AI. Take a look ↓

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Research Snapshot

Gender and AI: Where's the Harm?

Published by the Victorian Women’s Trust (2026)

Summary
Download a summary of findings.
Full Report
Read the complete analysis and methodology.
Key Findings

Artificial intelligence (AI) is reinforcing old and creating new gendered harms at a significant pace.

Many gendered AI harms are already occurring. They are not speculative, nor can they be relegated to the future only.

%

of deepfake videos are pornographic, and 99% of those feature women. [1]

%

of 133 AI systems studied showed gender bias. More than a quarter demonstrated both gender and racial bias. [2]

The number of years it’ll take to achieve gender equality. [3]

We are at a crossroads.

The choices made today regarding AI will shape whether this critical technology amplifies new and existing inequalities at scale — or contributes decisively to a more inclusive future.

Key Findings

AI safety requires inclusion.

Women and other minoritised groups’ exclusion from AI design, ownership and governance amplifies multiple downstream harms simultaneously. Harms cascade.

2%

of all venture capital for startups went to female-only teams in 2025. [4]

88%

of leading AI researchers globally are male. [5]

30%

of Australia’s AI industry is comprised of women. [6]
Conceptual Framework

"Harms are cascading"

With this Research Snapshot, led by Dr Elise Stephenson, a complex web of 20 gendered harms have been identified. Or another way to think of it is as cascading systems of interconnected harms that amplify, reinforce and compound inequality across multiple domains simultaneously.

For example:

Labour market inequality, disruption and job losses

Female-dominated occupations disproportionately automated; underrepresentation in tech sector and leadership, biased recruiting systems suppress wages, amplify pay gaps; economic losses to women, reinforced occupational segregation; identity loss.

Civic and political exclusion

Women withdrawing from public debate; chilling effect from online abuse; generation of political advice on voting behaviours that damage women’s interests; reduced political participation and representation.

Unchecked AI action

Safety limits removed (e.g. speeding up crises, breaking out of testing environments); loss of control of systems (e.g. financial, national security) with gendered patterns of AI leadership and decision-making.

Technology-facilitated gender-based violence

Doxxing; automated stalking and harassment; coordinated online abuse of women leaders; privacy violations (e.g. meta glasses).

Under-representation and exclusion from AI

Lack of agency; concentrated ownership; lack of democratic accountability/legitimacy/representation; perspectives excluded from design; economic inequalities.

Learn more

Gender and AI: Where's the Harm?
Read more about all 20 mapped gendered harms.
Media

AI's gendered harms and case for a feminist AI future

Dr Elise Stephenson joins Angela Priestley from the Women’s Agenda podcast to unpack the gendered risks of AI, and why they’re so urgent right now.

About the Author

Elise Stephenson Profile Photo_landscape
Dr Elise Stephenson

Appointed in 2026, Dr Elise Stephenson is the inaugural Victorian Women’s Trust Feminist Researcher in Residence. She is the Deputy Director of the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership, Australian National University, founded and chaired by former prime minister Julia Gillard. Dr Stephenson is a multi-award-winning gender equality researcher who focuses on gender, sexuality and leadership in policy frontiers, from researching artificial intelligence, to the space sector, diplomacy, national security, intelligence, climate action, international relations, and the Asia Pacific. She is an Australian Research Council Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA) fellow 2025-2028 for her research on: Gender Equality at the Frontiers: AI, Space and Climate Action. She is the author of two policy briefs on feminist approaches to AI governance, with the International Women’s Development Agency, Australia, and the IE University Center for the Governance of Change, Spain. Her recently published co-authored book, Future Generations Governance, Policymaking and Leadership: Ending “Policrastination” reinforces Elise’s intersectional, intergenerational feminist approach to AI and demonstrates her keen commitment to ensuring her research is translated for policy and practice.

Acknowledgements

We acknowledge the support of Dr Kirsten Abernethy, Ally Oliver-Perham, Leena Van Deventer, Dr Emma McNicol, Luella Geer, Ellie Joyce, Ava Wansbrough, and Rachael Imam from the Victorian Women’s Trust. We also acknowledge the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership, including Ruby Crandell, who leads research assistance on gender and AI, and Dr Jacko Jackson, Dr Leonora Risse and Professor Ramona Vijeyarasa for their help and consultation. We thank all organisations and individuals who contributed to this research, including the members of the VWT Research Circle who provided early feedback.

  1. eSafety Commissioner (2024). Addressing Deepfake Image-Based Abuse. 24 July. https://www.esafety.gov.au/newsroom/blogs/addressing-deepfake-image-based-abuse

  2. UN News (2026). AI is Getting Women Wrong as Gender Bias Persists, Data Reveals. 22 June. https://news.un.org/en/story/2026/06/1167776

  3. United Nations (2026). Progress on Sustainable Development Goals: The gender snapshot. 17 Sept. https://www.unwomen.org/en/digital-library/publications/2026/09/progress-on-the-sustainable-development-goals-the-gender-snapshot-2026

  4. Cut Through Venture and Folklore Ventures (2025). The State of Australian Startup Funding 2025. https://www.australianstartupfunding.com/

  5. United Nations (2026). Preliminary Report of the Independent International Scientific Panel on AI. https://www.un.org/independent-international-scientific-panel-ai/sites/default/files/2026-07/en_Preliminary%20Report_.pdf

  6. Deloitte Access Economics and Australian Computer Society (2026). Digital Pulse 2026: Now Shapes Next. https://www.acs.org.au/campaign/digital-pulse.html

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Published by the Victorian Women’s Trust, October 2026
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The Feminist Researcher in Residence Program is a harm prevention initiative of the Dugdale Trust for Women & Girls, of which the Victorian Women’s Trust is sole Trustee.

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"One, you have to kind of look to see what’s coming. Two, you need to make sure that you’ve got the tools to be able to remediate the harm in real time."

- Julie Inman Grant, Australia’s eSafety Commissioner, 25 September 2026

"What problem is AI addressing? How are benefits and risks being distributed? Who actually has the power to stop its use?"

- Anu Mundkur, Manager Prevention Implementation, Our Watch, 16 September 2026

"As women’s and disability rights face rollback in some countries, those same regressive patterns rear their heads online, amplified by algorithms designed for virality, not safety."

- Women With Disabilities Australia, 2026

"The vast majority of proposed or actual laws fail to adequately address gendered harms, if at all."

- Professor Ramona Vijeyarasa, UTS, 2023