By Gauri Shukla
for the 2025 Risky Women Writing Competition, presented in partnership with Ocorian
Ah, the age-old saga of women getting “a seat at the table.” But wait—who decided it was a buffet table set up by a select few? With AI now helping us build our own tables, let’s just hope this time we include a few more appetizers and less of that stale old bread!
For years, women in risk have been told we’re “getting a seat at the table”, but too often that table was already built, the rules of engagement written, the frameworks designed and the language set. While we see progress, with women now holding 38.2% of ASX200 board seats, only 13% of chairs are women. Decision making power is still concentrated to a select, homogenous group and for the most part, we see women close to the problem, but far from the power to solve those problems.
This isn’t new. History has shown us that when major transformative changes happen, women are frequently invited in after the foundations have been laid. Democracy was founded, the Constitution laid in 1901 in Australia, however, all women were not granted the right to vote until 1962 (when Indigenous Australians were included), and therefore, participate in shaping the future of Australia. As a result, their voices were not heard on important aspects of how their lives were governed, with decades spent unwinding and untangling legislation that wasn’t representative of the population’s interests. Risk management is no different, when frameworks and ways of working are designed without diverse voices, blind spots are inevitable.
The introduction and proliferation of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the most recent change that has the power to fundamentally shift our society and how we work. And let’s be clear- the lost opportunity for women is not just about inclusion in risk management decision making, it’s also about relevance and our future in the workforce, and ultimately, about the success of Australian business. We’ve heard the rhetoric persistent in news- jobs will be lost to those who are proficient with AI. If those who are gaining proficiency and exposure to AI are predominantly men, then the diversity of an organisation, at every level, will fall backwards. And as with all business, success of risk management and business resilience is dependent on diversity of thought and experience. With a lack of women representation we may be at the peril of taking major steps back in the diversity of our workforce at all levels and therefore, in the success of our business and organisations.
What excites me most about AI is that it allows for the democratisation of knowledge and access to skills that a few previously had or held. The genius and opportunity in AI is that the success of the output is determined by how well you can use language to clearly articulate your desired outcome. Tools and outcomes which previously required budgets, IT teams with coding experience, consultants or multiple bureaucratic approvals, are now available to anyone with a laptop and dedication.
With AI, you can identify and solve the problem yourself. Need to uplift control documentation standards in your GRC System? AI can support you with that, with the logic and assumptions written to round it out. Need to help your non- risk specialist colleagues to decipher policies or understand what to do when they have an incident? You can build a plain English speaking risk chat bot to answer their questions and guide them, with your own personal flair. Do you want to save time so instead of sitting behind a desk and running analysis over data, you can spend more time focussing on building a stronger risk culture? AI can process and analyse large amounts of data to support those goals. Want to run analysis on critical operations in your organisation for succinct insights into hot spots? AI can help you build the methodology and indicators to do just that.
You can now create how you or the organisation manages risk, and with creation comes control and inclusion. This is one of the two major benefits for women- creating ways of working and how people engage with risk allows agency. The second being, time freed from low value tasks allows you to spend more effort and energy on high visibility, high value activities. The best news is, there is no need to ask for permission to be invited into any rooms, you can build and prove your skills independently.
The opportunity that is provided by AI is enormous, and I would implore women in risk management to step into this space and start. Because now you have the power to not only get a seat at the table, but to build it. The future success of Australian businesses is dependent on it.