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April 26, 2026 — 5:01am
Whether she meant to or not, actor and producer Reese Witherspoon sparked a major online debate with just one Instagram post this week.
In the video, Witherspoon said that when she was at a recent book club with 10 women, she asked how many of them used artificial intelligence. Apparently, only three said they did and of those three, only one said they were confident they knew what they were doing and that they were using AI the right way.
“That means 70 per cent of that group is not keeping up,” Witherspoon said.
In a caption accompanying the post, she wrote: “The AI revolution has begun, and I need to learn as much as I possibly can about AI. Also, FYI: the jobs women hold are 3x more likely to be automated by AI, yet women are using AI at a rate 25 per cent lower than men on average.”
Much of the ensuing online drama centred around Witherspoon then calling on other women to learn with her, the ethics of someone within the creative industry promoting AI, and whether the A-list celebrity was paid to promote AI or is an investor in the sector and therefore stands to financially benefit from more people embracing the technology.
While all of those questions deserve their own discussion, what’s stuck with me since all this kicked off is how it relates to another example of what happens when women don’t participate equally in what are historically male-dominated areas – specifically, finance.
What makes this especially mind-blowing is that studies consistently show that women are better investors than men.
Because basic financial freedoms like the ability to earn our own money are now so normal, it can be easy to forget that in the grand scheme of things, being able to get a credit card or buy a property without a husband or father are still relatively new for women.
But when we look past those basic rights, the statistics show us that actually, the adoption of financial habits isn’t all that far off what Witherspoon is talking about with AI adoption.
According to a 2020 Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia survey, Australian women have the second-highest financial literacy gap out of all G20 nations.
Add to that the findings of a YouGov poll from 2025 that only 55 per cent of Australian women are actively engaged in creating and maintaining a household budget, while only 44 per cent are saving for their retirement and/or for general savings and just 38 per cent are focused on managing debt and saving for large purchases.
From there, things only get worse. Fewer than one in four women (23 per cent) are making decisions about real estate despite us all owning or renting properties, and just one in five are making investment decisions (19 per cent).
When asked what was influencing women when it came to their ability – or rather inability – to make financial decisions, the most common answers included fear or anxiety about making mistakes (30 per cent), or getting support from family or partners (24 per cent). But you know what the single most common reason was among 38 per cent of female participants? A lack of confidence around knowledge of financial topics.
While the medium Witherspoon was discussing is different in important ways, the common factor is that women are consistently in a cycle of not having the confidence to learn, and therefore either learning much later than their male peers or not at all, and ultimately falling behind.
While it’s yet to be seen exactly how this might play out when it comes to AI, we know exactly how it ends in finances. Women are still paid less than their male counterparts, retiring with less superannuation and less likely to own property.
On the stock market in particular, women are likely to invest at half the rate of men (30 per cent of men compared to 15 per cent of women), and they’re also investing less (an average of $11,934 for women compared with $31,100 for men).
What makes this especially mind-blowing is that studies consistently show that women are better investors than men by as much as 40 basis points.
On paper, that might only look like 0.4 per cent – a nominal amount. But let’s say you invest a lump sum of $10,000 into shares with an annual rate of return of 9 per cent, and add $5000 a year for the next 20 years.
After two decades, a male investor’s portfolio will be worth almost $312,000, $200,000 of which is interest. A female investor, though, with an annual rate of return of 9.4 per cent thanks to her investing nous, will find herself with just over $328,000, of which $218,000 is interest.
One of the most obvious and glaring reasons women aren’t drawn to investing is that the stock market was never designed with us in mind. It was made by men, for men and to capture the attention of men.
Two of the market’s core operational elements are volatility and unpredictability – things women generally don’t love, but that the adrenalin-seeking male species have more of a taste for.
While I’m not suggesting the market was designed specifically to keep women out, that’s ultimately what has happened and, to a large extent, is still happening.
It bears a striking similarity to artificial intelligence – a sector dominated by men.
The world’s top AI companies have been founded by men, designed by men and are run by men. Again, I’m not suggesting this is intentional. But because it hasn’t been designed by men and women equally, for men and women equally, women are less likely to engage with it.
And as Witherspoon astutely pointed out in her social media video: “The thing I’ve learned about technology is if you don’t get a little bit of understanding from the very beginning, it just speeds past you.”
That sounds an awful lot like learning about long-term investing and financial planning, wouldn’t you say?
Victoria Devine is an award-winning retired financial adviser, a bestselling author and host of Australia’s No.1 finance podcast, She’s on the Money. She is also founder and director of Zella Money.
- Advice given in this article is general in nature and is not intended to influence readers’ decisions about investing or financial products. They should always seek their own professional advice that takes into account their personal circumstances before making any financial decisions.
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