The 'Ick' Feeling and Embodied Response

Does using AI to optimize your schedule or do your research give you a distinct sense of unease? There’s something innate keeping women from incorporating new automation tools into their workflows, and it’s not just a lack of interest. Many are describing it as actual repulsion, and I want to understand why.

Women are facing a double disadvantage: they’re more likely to lose their jobs to AI, and they’re less likely to get jobs that the AI revolution will create. That significant gender gap deserves much closer exploration. So let’s dig deeper into why so many women are saying no to automated agents and what that means for our impending AI future.

Let’s unpack why AI is giving women “the ick” together, including:

• How the billion-dollar AI industry highlights the invisible nature of “women’s work”;
• Why women are perfectly positioned to see an often-overlooked truth about AI
• What the studies say about why women aren’t adopting AI as readily as men;
• Why the transformation to ideal AI agent manager isn’t going to happen overnight.

Related Links:

• Abi Awomosu, “They Built Stepford AI and Called It ‘Agentic’” - https://abiawomosu.substack.com/p/they-built-stepford-ai-and-called
• Episode 540, “The Double Disadvantage: AI, Women, and the Future of Work” - https://www.bossedup.org/podcast/episode540
• Harvard Business School, “Global Evidence on Gender Gaps and Generative AI” - https://www.hbs.edu/ris/Publication%20Files/25023_52957d6c-0378-4796-99fa-aab684b3b2f8.pdf
• Pew Research, “The ‘Leisure Gap’ Between Mothers And Fathers” - https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2013/10/17/the-leisure-gap-between-mothers-and-fathers/
• Tressie McMillan Cottom at the Urban Consulate - https://www.instagram.com/reels/DUlNVvmka05/
• Listen to “There Are No Girls on the Internet” - https://www.tangoti.com/   
• Mara Bolis, “The AI Gender Gap Paradox” - https://ssir.org/articles/entry/ai-gender-gap-paradox
• Anne-Marie Slaughter, “Unfinished Business: Women, Men, Work, Family” - https://bookshop.org/p/books/unfinished-business-women-men-work-family-anne-marie-slaughter/aa05ce9043ac07ad
• Ezra Klein, “How Fast Will A.I. Agents Rip Through the Economy?” - https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/24/opinion/ezra-klein-podcast-jack-clark.html
• The Conversation, “Grok 4’s new AI companion offers up ‘pornographic productivity’” - https://theconversation.com/grok-4s-new-ai-companion-offers-up-pornographic-productivity-260992
• EdX, “How to Close the Gender Gap in AI Jobs” - https://www.edx.org/resources/closing-ai-gender-gap
• LinkedIn Learning Course, “Get Unstuck: Make a Plan to Move Your Career Forward” - https://www.linkedin.com/learning/get-unstuck-make-a-plan-to-move-your-career-forward
• Bossed Up Courage Community - https://www.facebook.com/groups/927776673968737/
• Bossed Up LinkedIn Group - https://www.linkedin.com/groups/7071888/

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