SA women rapidly closing the AI skills gap, says Pnet

South African women are accelerating their adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) competencies, expanding their representation among jobseekers listing AI skills from 25% to 32% over the past three years.

According to the August 2026 Pnet Job Market Trends Report, a Women’s Month edition analysing 1.5 million local candidate profiles, male professionals still account for roughly two-thirds of jobseekers listing AI capabilities.

However, data tracked over six years shows clear upward momentum in women’s adoption of AI, with the strongest growth recorded over the most recent three-year period.

Domain-specific adoption patterns

The report highlights distinct differences in AI adoption across technical disciplines and specialised applications:

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Generative AI for design and media: Female professionals lead adoption in this category. Over the past three years, women accounted for approximately 70% of candidates adding design and media AI tools to their CVs, up from 57% in the preceding three-year period.
Generative AI for content creation: Women make up more than half of all candidates listing content-generation tools. Specifically, 60% of candidates citing ChatGPT proficiency on their CV profiles are female.
Robotic process automation (RPA) and machine learning: While men continue to dominate these fields, in line with broader IT sector demographics, female representation in RPA increased from 27% to 39% over the past three years. Female participation in machine learning rose from 20% to 24% over the same period.
General AI capabilities: Female representation in general AI skills remained stable at around 39% over the past three years.

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Anja Bates, head of data at Pnet, contextualised the trajectory within global research trends.

“Pnet’s analysis of AI adoption among female professionals over the past six years reveals clear acceleration, with the strongest growth occurring during the last three years. This is encouraging against the backdrop of international research suggesting that women have been slower than men to adopt AI in the workplace.”

Occupational breakdown and career pipelines

Pnet’s empirical dataset, drawn from Stepstone Group South Africa’s platforms and covering more than 11 million registered users, identifies several career paths where women are increasingly integrating AI tools:

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Executive, virtual and personal assistants: Among administrative professionals listing AI capabilities such as ChatGPT to automate routine tasks and improve productivity, women account for 96%.
Data scientists: Women currently make up 31% of data scientists who list AI capabilities on their profiles, pointing to a growing pipeline of female talent in advanced analytics.
Software developers: In software development, where machine learning and natural language processing are highly valued, women represent 21% of developers citing AI expertise.

Bates said the findings reflected the changing skills employers are seeking.

“AI is rapidly reshaping the skills that employers value most, and Pnet’s data suggests that South African women are responding by embracing AI capabilities at an encouraging pace.

“Our data highlights the diverse ways in which AI is being integrated into the workplace and the growing role women are playing in shaping its practical application.”

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