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Live webinar
Rewriting the rules: AI, gender and the “professional” trap
How women can use AI without losing their voices.
What we’ll cover
- What we found about how working men and women across the UK use AI for writing – and why the gaps between them matter.
- The confidence question: women are more confident writers than men. So why are they more anxious about writing without AI? And what does it mean when 79% of women hide the fact they’ve used it?
- The expectations: 47.8% of women who’ve been told to change their writing style were told to “be more direct or assertive.” Is AI becoming the tool women use to achieve that?
- Real stories from the top: what can CEOs, people leaders and DEI teams do so that AI supports women’s voices instead of flattening them?
Save your spot
You’ll be taken to Microsoft Teams to complete your registration. Takes about 30 seconds.
Who’s it for?
Join us if you shape culture and careers, care how your organisation sounds, are a woman who writes at work – and you’ve ever been told to “tone it down”, “be more direct”, or “write like a man”.
You’ll leave with
A clear picture of where the gender gaps are and where the real risk lies. And practical next steps for CEOs, people leaders and DEI teams who want AI to support women, not silence them – from better writing training to clearer guidelines.
Men use AI for ease, while women use it for credibility
When we asked working people about writing with AI, 60% of women told us their main goal was to “sound more professional”. Just 38% of men said the same.
That’s not a confidence gap. Women in our survey were more confident writers than men. It’s an expectation gap – perhaps because we’ve spent decades telling women to act, sound and write “like men”. In the same survey, we found women were almost twice as likely as men to be told to write more assertively.
And now they have an aggressively efficient editing tool in their hands: AI.
Women are using AI to edit themselves into someone more acceptable
That’s not progress. It’s a new version of a very old problem, and it’s happening inside organisations that think they’re doing the right thing on gender.
So how do you help teams embrace tech while making tired gender expectations a thing of the past? We’ve brought together a panel of experts in brand, language and female leadership to hash it out.
Your speakers
Liz Dimmock
Founder and CEO, Moving Ahead
Liz Dimmock is the Founder and CEO of Moving Ahead, a specialist organisation dedicated to advancing high performance talent development and workplace inclusion through structured mentoring and sponsorship programmes.
Liz has nearly 25 years’ experience in consultancy and leadership development spanning commercial, coaching and leadership roles at IMG, KPMG, HSBC (Global Head of Coaching) and GP Strategies (Managing Partner).
Over the past 20 years Liz has led the design and delivery of more than 600 organisational mentoring programs ranging from bespoke initiatives to the world’s largest cross-company mentoring programme in partnership with the 30% Club.
Lucy Darbyshire
Head of Copy, AO
Lucy is a writer who believes tone will always be more than a nice-to-have. She’s worked both in-house and agency side, moving fluidly between B2B and B2C, and writing across everything from funeral homes, pensions and cars to holidays, vets and cybersecurity.
These days, she leads a team of writers who give the voice to one of the UK’s best-known online retail brands—bringing clarity, character and a bit of charm to our everyday moments. She’s particularly interested in how the right words can make people feel understood, and spends a surprising amount of time encouraging those around her to drop the apologetic emojis from perfectly reasonable requests.
Rebecca Rennison
M&A Partner, EY
Rebecca is a Partner at EY specialising in M&A with over 25 years’ experience leading transformational transactions with private equity and global strategic trade. In 2023, she created the Redefining MACHO male allyship framework – a practical, actionable approach to fostering a more inclusive workplace. Through workshops and events across the UK, she has gathered real life stories and insights that have shaped a clear roadmap for cultivating environments where everyone feels valued and included.
Rebecca was recognised as a “Changemaker” at the 2022 Yorkshire Rainmakers Awards and added to the Northern Power Women POWER list in 2023. She holds both the CPA and CFA designations and has served as a Trustee for Big Sisters and Broughton House charities.
Alex Goldstein
Creative Director, Definition
Alex is a writer, trainer and tone of voice specialist, focused on how language makes people feel, think and act. Her first writing job was reviewing gadgets for a tech blog aimed at women (right in the firing line of people who had plenty to say about how women “should” sound). These days she spends a lot of time helping people shake off preconceived ideas about “professional” writing so they can get things done with their words instead.
Louise Vaughan
CEO, Definition
Louise started our business and heads up our 80-strong team of brand and communication specialists. She’s ranked in PR Week’s Powerbook of the UK’s top comms professionals 2026, is in their Top 5 Leaders Outside London 2026 and was selected for EY’s Entrepreneurial Winning Women Programme for EMIA 2026. She’s helped leaders in international brands, Government and industry bodies build their profile and reputation through Definition’s Brand You programme. She’s won the European Excellence Award for Reputation Management three times.
Forever a PR at heart, she loves helping leaders build the reputation and profile they deserve. In her spare time she juggles the demands of teenage kids, dogs and chickens with learning to ride horses (badly).