Women ‘can lead the charge on GenAI’ in the workplace, with research showing many are outpacing male counterparts

“Every year on International Women’s Day, we put out new research, and this year the focus is GenAI,” said Neveen Awad, managing director, partner, and North America lead of BCG’s Women in Tech initiative.

The initial goal was just to explore the adoption of generative AI across genders, at different levels, and also at different depths of tech expertise or function, Awad told me. However, BCG’s findings made it “super clear that the more that women really grab and understand key technologies and trends, the more they can bend the curve on how to use it and how to make value out of it,” she said.

BCG surveyed 6,500 employees (50% men, 50% women) based in the U.S., U.K., India, Japan, and Germany, and ranging from junior individual contributors to senior managers in roles that included engineering, IT, customer support, sales and marketing. Employees in non-technical roles such as HR, legal, and finance also were surveyed. 

According to data BCG shared with Fortune, women in senior tech functions are ahead of men in generative AI adoption in the workplace (75% vs. 61%), and those women were 10% more aware than their male counterparts that generative AI will be critical for their success. Additionally, Awad noted, women in tech leadership were “less nervous, for example, in terms of trying new technologies.”

But the most telling finding, Awad added, was that “10% more women in senior tech roles, compared to men, basically said, ‘I started playing around with GenAI before the organization told me to.’” In interviews, these women would tell Awad: “‘I saw this coming. I knew it was going to be important. And like in my whole career, I’ve had to figure things out, and get ahead of the next thing that I need to know.’”

But the research also showed that women in non-tech senior roles lagged slightly in GenAI adoption compared with men (63% vs. 71%), and that when looking at junior women, particularly in non-tech functions, when it comes to using the tech there’s a 21% gap between junior women (48%) and junior men (69%).

This presents a great opportunity for women in senior roles to help women in more junior roles get more comfortable with AI, possibly by leading training sessions, Awad explained. “One way is creating a culture that rewards trying new things.”

An executive vice president of a B2B tech company told Awad that she ran her company’s GenAI committee, and when asking for volunteers, it was roughly a 50/50 split of men and women. “I think as much as possible,” Awad said, “women can lead the charge on GenAI to be part of the conversation at every level.”

Have a good weekend.

Sheryl Estrada
sheryl.estrada@fortune.com

María Soledad Davila Calero curated the Leaderboard and Overheard sections of today’s newsletter.

Big deal

Merline Saintil, cofounder of Black Women on Boards, and Shannon Nash, CFO at Alphabet's Wing, an on-demand drone delivery company, conceived and co-produced OnBoard, an award-winning short documentary. The evolution of board diversity, starting from the pioneer Patricia Roberts Harris’ appointment to the board of IBM in 1971, is chronicled in OnBoard. 

The film features interviews with many executives who are members of Black Women on Boards, of which Saintil, an operating partner at DCVC and current board member at Symbotic, TD Synnex, Rocket Lab and GitLab, along with former CFO Robin Washington, current board member at Salesforce, Alphabet, and Honeywell, launched in 2020. 

Also interviewed in the film are 3M CEO Mike Roman, Poshmark CEO Manish Chandra, DCVC cofounder Matt Ocko, and many others. It was directed and written by Deborah Riley Draper.

Today, in recognition of International Women's Day, OnBoard has been released worldwide via Vimeo for video on demand. You can also view the film's trailer here. 

Leaderboard

Some notable moves this week:

Rebecca Weyenberg has stepped down as CFO of Astec Industries Inc. (Nasdaq: ASTE), an asphalt manufacturer. Although the departure from the position is immediate, Weyenberg will stay as a consultant until April 30. Heinrich Jonker, VP of finance, was appointed the interim CFO. 

Thomas Okray was appointed CFO at Nikola (Nasdaq: NKLA), an electric vehicles company. Previously, Okray served as EVP and CFO at Eaton Corporation, SVP and CFO at Grainger, and EVP and CFO at Advance Auto Parts. He also held various executive and CFO roles at General Motors.

Daniel Tempesta was appointed CFO at Cerence Inc. (Nasdaq: CRNC), an automobile software company, effective March 18. Tempesta joins Cerence after more than 15 years at Nuance Communications Inc., where he most recently served as EVP and CFO. Tempesta replaces Tom Beaudoin, who has served on Cerence’s board of directors since October 2019 and as Cerence’s CFO since May 2022.

Andy Roeder was named EVP and CFO of Patrick Industries (Nasdaq: PATK), effective March 5. Before joining Patrick, a manufacturer of building products and materials for manufactured housing and RV industries, Roeder served as CFO of Polaris Boats, and before that, CFO of Bennington Marine.

Giorgio Matteo Traditi was named president and CFO of United Natural Foods (NYSE: UNFI), effective April 15. He succeeds John W. Howard, current CFO, who will leave the company following a transition period. Tarditi began his career with GE in 1997 and held several leadership positions, such as CFO of GE Healthcare Japan, CFO of Avio Aero—GE Aviation, and in GE Oil & Gas, where he served as CFO. 

Albert Meo was appointed CFO at Prometheum Inc., a digital assets marketplace. Meo was previously executive director of regulatory policy at Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) and comes as Prometheum Capital, a subsidiary of Prometheum, received approval to offer services related to digital asset securities. 

Marshall Woodworth was promoted to CFO at the biotechnology company NeuroBo Pharma (Nasdaq: NRBO). Woodworth has been the acting CFO since Oct. 27. Before joining NeuroBo Pharmaceuticals, from May 2017 through May 2023, he served as the CFO at Nevakar, Inc. Woodworth also served as CFO of Braeburn Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

Going deeper

Here are a few Fortune weekend reads:

Overheard

“There’s this opportunity for something that’s a little more connected and a little more inspiring. These are some of the elements companies are reaching for in what we’d call creating community or creating culture.”

—Tim Rowe, founder and CEO of the co-working spaces company CIC, told Fortune about the need for companies to create third spaces, which are recreational as opposed to work spaces, within the company's site. Instead of planning activities at pubs or other places, Rowe argued that bringing social events to the workplace can spur collaboration.