A junior content writer submits their work for a second interview. It lacks polish; perhaps once acceptable for entry-level roles. But in 2025, when AI can produce polished first drafts in minutes, they don’t get the job. Not because they can’t do the work, but because the job no longer exists.
This scenario, shared with me by a colleague recently, captures a broader crisis unfolding across Australia’s tech sector.
Jobs and Skills Australia recently released its landmark study “Our Gen-AI Transition: Implications for Work and Skills”, mapping how generative AI will reshape the Australian workforce. While the report’s headline finding – that most jobs won’t disappear but will be transformed – has been widely discussed, the gender equity implications have been largely overlooked.
The JSA report reveals that entry-level workers and roles typically dominated by women are among the most exposed to AI-driven automation.
This isn’t new, and is supported by other industry analyses. A 2024 study led by Cisco found that 92 per cent of ICT jobs will undergo moderate to high change due to AI, with 37 per cent of entry-level ICT positions and 40 per cent of mid-level positions expected to experience high levels of AI-driven transformation. This matters because these entry-level roles – content creation, quality assurance testing, junior design positions – are precisely the pathways women have been using to break into digital careers.
Just as women are finally making inroads into Australia’s male-dominated ICT sector, AI is threatening to pull up the ladder behind them.
The compression problem
The JSA data tells a stark story about career pathway compression. While senior ICT roles remain largely protected from automation, the bottom rungs of the career ladder are being systematically eliminated.
Graduate recruitment in tech declined 50 per cent between 2019 and 2024, a trend directly attributed to AI automating entry-level work. As one Australian recruiter observed, many tasks once given to junior employees as training exercises “can now be done so much more cheaply and effectively by AI in a matter of seconds.”
The pipeline paradox
The timing of this compression couldn’t be worse for gender equity in tech.
In 2023, women comprised just 29 per cent of Australia’s tech workforce; far below their 48 per cent representation in the overall workforce. Information Media and Telecommunications employs 42 per cent women, down from 44 per cent in 1998, while Professional, Scientific and Technical Services sits at 43.3 per cent female representation.
The JSA study explicitly flagged that roles “typically dominated by women” – administrative and clerical jobs alongside junior support roles in content creation and communications – are more exposed to automation.
These “soft tech” entry points have been critical pathways for women entering the traditionally male-dominated technology sector, representing the areas where women achieved near-parity in professional roles (55.4 per cent) before hitting the management ceiling (36.3 per cent of managers).
The opportunity trap
The irony is the skills JSA identifies as rising in value – judgment, communication, oversight, and strategic thinking – are precisely the areas where research shows women excel.
A Harvard Business Review analysis of 3,527 360-degree assessments found women were rated as more effective than men on 84 per cent of the frequently measured leadership competencies, including integrity, resilience, initiative, and self-development. Meta-analytic research has linked this “female leadership advantage” to ability-based emotional intelligence, with women consistently rating higher in transformational leadership that blends strategic and collaborative behaviours.
Yet these valued capabilities are concentrated in senior roles that women are still struggling to access.
The WGEA data shows that in male-dominated organizations – which includes most tech companies – women hold just 10.9 per cent less in base salary compared to male managers, but the real barrier is getting to management level in the first place. Women represent only 20.7 per cent of Key Management Personnel in male-dominated industries.
The pipeline compression means women miss the opportunity to develop and demonstrate these rising skills in junior roles where the stakes are lower and mentorship is available. Instead, they’re expected to arrive in senior positions already possessing the judgment and communication expertise that AI has made essential. Despite being systematically excluded from the career pathways that traditionally built these capabilities.
A call for deliberate design
Australian corporate leaders like Telstra CEO Vicki Brady have publicly acknowledged that AI-driven efficiency means their future workforce will be smaller. But the JSA report emphasizes “the importance of preserving pathways for new workers” – a goal that won’t happen by accident.
First, employers must resist eliminating junior roles entirely. Sydney-based software firm ReadyTech exemplifies this approach, committing to ensure 20 per cent of digital entry-level hires come through alternative pathways like TAFE training and bootcamps by 2030, “recruiting for potential, not pedigree.” Companies should redesign entry-level positions around learning to work with AI tools, developing judgment about when and how to apply these technologies effectively.
Second, targeted reskilling must reach the displaced workers – disproportionately women in content, testing, admin, and junior analyst roles. As JSA Commissioner Barney Glover emphasizes, Australia must “bring our people with us, through upskilling, training, and capacity building” as AI adoption accelerates.
The AI transformation isn’t inherently gendered – but its impacts will be unless we design it otherwise. Australia can’t afford to let this technological shift undo decades of progress toward gender equity in tech. The time for deliberate action is now.