Closing India’s gender gap in the AI economy

This article is authored by Kanta Singh, UN Women India Country Representative a.i. and Ruchee Anand, LinkedIn India Head, Talent and Learning Solutions.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is redefining how the world learns, earns, and builds. But as India enters this AI-powered decade of growth, one question matters most: who gets to lead it? For India to realise its full economic potential, women must be at the centre of this transformation - as founders, innovators, and decision-makers.

AI (Unsplash)

On Women’s Entrepreneurship Day, India has a unique opportunity to shape a more inclusive AI economy for Asia and the Pacific - one that combines skills, capital, and representation to turn disruption into mobility and shared prosperity.

AI is changing what work looks like across every sector - from manufacturing to health to education. Insights from the UN Women × LinkedIn Women and the Future of Jobs brief show that around 80% of women in India today are in roles classified as “augmented” or “disrupted.” When these roles evolve or disappear, women often move to another equally vulnerable role, while men are more likely to shift into augmented ones. This gap deepens inequality and limits the speed at which women can participate in emerging industries.

The solution lies in investing where transitions happen - on factory floors and campus labs, in start-ups and supply chains. If women can access AI literacy and reskilling at scale, they can move into new roles that AI is creating - from data operations to design ethics to sustainability analytics. Making AI skills a public good - offered through universities, career centres, and local entrepreneurship networks - can help more women transition smoothly into the jobs and businesses of tomorrow.

Skills open doors, but capital keeps them open. India’s start-up ecosystem has made great strides in representation, yet women-led enterprises still receive less than 2% of total venture funding. As AI lowers barriers to entry for innovation, this is a moment to fund women builders - from deep-tech founders to small-business owners using AI for growth.

A funding window that combines grants and first-loss capital with access to cloud credits, AI tools, and mentorship can accelerate this shift. Equally important is making markets more inclusive - linking women-led enterprises to corporate supply chains and government procurement programmes.

LinkedIn’s recent SMB Research 2025 offers a glimpse of how women entrepreneurs are already leading India’s business transformation. Women-led small and medium businesses demonstrate higher optimism about the future, adopt AI earlier, and hire with a skills-first mindset – 36% cite AI’s biggest benefit as improving talent and skills alignment. They also use digital platforms more broadly across hiring, marketing, sales, and learning - reflecting an integrated, intelligence-driven approach to growth.

These leaders are not outliers; they are the prototype for India’s next entrepreneurial wave - one that’s tech-forward, inclusive, and data-driven. Supporting them with targeted credit, AI training, and market access could create a multiplier effect across employment and innovation.

This aligns with India’s broader digital transformation agenda under Digital India, Startup India, and the vision of Viksit Bharat, where women entrepreneurs remain central to inclusive and sustainable economic growth, driving empowerment, innovation, and job creation across urban and rural areas.

True inclusion in the AI era also means ensuring women shape the rules that govern technology. From bias audits to data privacy and AI ethics, women must have a voice in decision-making bodies, standards committees, and policy forums. When women co-design technology, its purpose and impact change for the better.

Women and girls cannot be expected to bridge systemic inequality alone. This moment demands collective action: governments funding universal AI access and reskilling; employers offering paid apprenticeships and clear career pathways: Investors backing women-led enterprises; and platforms building the networks and visibility that connect women to opportunity. If we act now, and invest where transitions happen, India can lead the world in building an AI economy that works for everyone.

This article is authored by Kanta Singh, UN Women India Country Representative a.i. and Ruchee Anand, LinkedIn India Head, Talent and Learning Solutions.