AI squeezes career ladder, women bear the brunt

By late 2026, the workforce debate had shifted from headline labor shortages to a more troubling pipeline problem: AI was eroding the jobs that once trained future managers and specialists. In the 2026-09-08 analysis on early-career hiring and development, applicant pools for early talent roles had doubled, signaling fewer openings at the bottom rung, while Lynn Dohm described a “cyber talent paradox” in which, as she put it, “Back in the day… ‘there’s 4.8 million unfilled jobs in cyber security.’ Well, now we’re at this this threshold of we have a surplus of talent at early career,” with “AI disrupting those junior roles,” and “a deficit of skills in mid career and senior position individuals” — “not necessarily this workforce gap, but it is a skills gap.”

That diagnosis was reinforced by evidence that the strain was showing up in progression and retention, not just hiring. Dohm said Women in CyberSecurity saw “close to gender parity” early on, but “there’s a drama drop off as women reach mid career, like five, seven years in,” prompting a push for “hard data” after assumptions about “a lack of mentors, a lack of career growth and advancement”; by 2026, she said WiCyS had, since 2023, been measuring “the ROI of resilience” to “show employers that there is a return on investment,” while looking “three to five years ahead” at workforce needs under rapid digitization and regulatory change.

Women in tech are carrying a disproportionate share of workplace strain, and the pattern is becoming more visible rather than improving. IT Brief New Zealand reported ISACA’s 2026 survey found 47% of women working in tech had experienced gender discrimination at work, up from 42% in 2024, while women also reported lower satisfaction than men with workplace culture, job security and career progression; the same survey found 59% of professionals had experienced work-related stress or burnout, driven by heavy workloads, lack of resources and unsupportive management, rising to 64% of women versus 57% of men.

That strain is not just a wellbeing problem; it is narrowing the path to leadership and raising the odds that organizations lose future senior talent before it matures. IT Brief New Zealand said unclear career progression was the most commonly cited barrier to advancement overall at 34%, but 41% among women versus 33% of men, while just 53% of women said they had enough authority to contribute to company strategy and direction compared with 66% of men; only 25% of employers offered mental health days, 23% offered no burnout support, and 75% said retention was a significant or moderate issue.

What is changing is not just training volume but the design of advancement itself: managers are being pushed to make development observable, repeatable, and human-led. In the cybersecurity leadership discussion, one leader said they “instituted this… three message back and forth then get on a call,” because “within 5 minutes they had an answer,” turning communication coaching into a concrete practice, while Esomar’s interview argued that mentorship and growth “have to now be done with intentionality” as AI absorbs more routine work and leaves judgment, empathy, and guided review to people.

That same shift is showing up in formal talent systems: at Merc, “every year we have a nomination and a validation round… managers nominate members of their teams… with… exceptional… ability to take on bigger more complex roles… the top 5%,” while succession guidance now starts by asking, “If this person were to leave tomorrow, who would step in?” Schneider Electric is scaling the architecture behind that logic, aiming “to build a common language across Schneider that connects mobility, learning, workforce planning and succession across its more than 150,000 employees globally”; it has “defined 21 ‘job families’ internally,” with “subject matter experts identified for each one,” including an innovation and technology family shaped by “50 subject matter experts and people managers,” and “65% of employees have already registered on the platform.”