TWN Info Service on UN Sustainable Development (Oct26/11)
28 October 2026
Third World Network

UN: AI risks reinforcing gender stereotypes & abuse, warns treaty body
Published in SUNS #10542 dated 27 October 2026 

Penang, 26 Oct (Kanaga Raja) -- Artificial intelligence (AI) systems may reproduce and amplify gender stereotypes and intersecting forms of discrimination against women, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women has warned in a new guidance to member States.

Presenting its General Recommendation No. 41 on 23 October, the Committee called on States to take concrete action to dismantle deeply rooted gender stereotypes that perpetuate discrimination and gender-based violence against women and girls.

"Gender stereotypes determine who is seen and whose knowledge matters in a society," the Committee said, adding that it is critical for States Parties not only to address gender stereotypes themselves, but also the underlying attitudes, systems, and structures that give rise and sustain them.

It also warned that such stereotypes affect all areas of life, while emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence, risk amplifying them and fuelling further gender-based violence.

It expressed particular concern about the use of generative and agentic AI to facilitate gender-based violence, including through non-consensual sexualised images and videos, deep fakes, impersonation, sexual extortion and targeted attacks on women leaders and politicians.

The Committee called on States to regulate AI and digital platforms and require platforms to establish effective mechanisms for reporting and promptly removing abusive and discriminatory content, as well as providing remedies for victims.

It also called for transparency, independent oversight and meaningful human review of AI-assisted decisions in education, employment, healthcare, financial services and the administration of justice.

The UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, comprising 23 independent experts, monitors States Parties' compliance with the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), which to date has 189 States Parties.

In its General Recommendation (CEDAW/C/GC/41) on dismantling gender stereotypes, prejudices and stigma, and the unequal power relations that sustain them, the Committee said that gender stereotypes are a form and contributor to systemic discrimination. They are ideological instruments of power through which inequality is structured, justified, and maintained.

"Therefore, the full development and advancement of gender equality requires immediate, comprehensive, and multi-sectoral state action to eliminate discriminatory systems, institutions, and practices which are based on or promote gender stereotypes."

It said that gender stereotypes have historically impaired the exercise of women's rights in all areas of life.

They also evolve and are shaped by critical global and local issues, such as organized gender backlash, which is systematic, well-funded, and driven by nationalist, fundamentalist, masculinist and populist movements that actively undermine gender equality efforts.

Other challenges include the rapid rise of artificial intelligence and digital technologies, economic inequalities, democratic regression, climate change and natural disasters, armed and non-armed conflicts, occupation and gender persecution, humanitarian crises and pandemics, among many others.

The Committee recognized the agency, resilience, and dignity of all individuals who have and still experience discrimination, and acknowledged all women, men, institutions, organizations, and movements that work daily to actively challenge and dismantle gender stereotypes.

An inter-sectional approach recognizes that discrimination against women is often the result of intersecting axes and systems of inequality, it noted.

For example, it said racism, casteism, colourism, ageism, ableism, class, and economic inequality - although they may be perceived as separate axes within the social structure - simultaneously interact with each other and with sex and gender-based discrimination to shape women's lives.

These axes are connected to broader systems of oppression, including socio-economic, political, colonial, and patriarchal structures, which reinforce one another, said the Committee.

It said stereotypes based on gender, race, and ethnicity are widespread, deeply shaped by a history and present of structural and systemic discrimination, racism, apartheid, enslavement, colonialism, colourism, violence, and other systems of oppression.

This has promoted enduring inequalities, stigma, and discriminatory treatment for women of African descent and those from marginalized racial and ethnic groups in all areas, including in access to justice, social and economic equality, education, employment, healthcare, and others.

Stereotypes of women of African descent, who experience life at the intersections of race, colour, national or ethnic origin, gender and other factors, contribute to segregation, economic disadvantage, reduced political and public participation and representation, poverty, social exclusion, high rates of sexual violence, including rape, police violence, and criminalization, past and modern forms of slavery, and barriers to control resources within their communities, said the Committee.

In this regard, the Committee called on States - including all branches of government - to research, identify, monitor, analyse, and document the prevalence of gender stereotypes, prejudices, and stigma.

This process should include steps to identify their wrongs, articulate how they discriminate, and explain factors that enable them.

The Committee said unrecognized and hidden gender stereotypes are often present in legislative, institutional, and policy frameworks; the judicial system; and in how the authorities conduct their work and deliver services.

States should be particularly vigilant of implicit stereotypes and forms of institutionalized stereotyping, which can involve the labelling of women by law enforcement authorities and executive, legislative, and judicial branch officials.

States parties should also analyse and assess the conditions and means through which stereotypes manifest, whether in constitutions, laws, policies, institutions, systems, services, and practices, it added.

The General Recommendation also called on States parties to take urgent action to challenge and dismantle all gender stereotypes, including sustained strategies, executed in collaboration with concerned authorities, non-state actors, women's organisations, communities, and individuals, and at the federal, state, and local levels.

Actions to dismantle gender stereotypes can include the review and reform of leadership culture, legislation, policies, institutions, processes, practices, and services; education, engagement, media, and communications initiatives; the development of guidelines and protocols; close work with communities; and the production of knowledge and research, the Committee suggested.

Highlighting several specific areas of concern, the Committee stated that gender stereotypes, prejudices, and stigma strongly influence all areas of life and hinder the enjoyment of all women's rights.

They are reflected in behavioural expectations for women and men - and girls and boys - based on their actual or perceived sex differences and the unequal value placed on them, it pointed out.

Stereotypes related to women's physical and intellectual capacities, capabilities, and emotions, along with their reproductive capacity, have sustained the patriarchal perception of the need for male domination, power, and control, which perpetuates subordination and discrimination, and may lead to gender-based violence against women, it argued.

Among the areas cited by the Committee that have witnessed the persistence of gender stereotypes are maternity, care and support.

Many women and girls are compelled into motherhood through forced and/or early pregnancy, child, early and/or forced marriages, political policies, denial of contraception, and the criminalization of abortion, it said.

"This severely limits many women's ability and autonomy to choose whether or when to become mothers, the number and spacing of their children, and to fully exercise their rights in all fields."

The Committee said the male breadwinner construct limits women's opportunities, autonomy to choose their life plans, and establishes men as leaders inside and outside of the home.

Gender stereotypes have entrenched the gendered division of labour,  where women are expected to complete most un-waged care and support tasks in the home and for their families, it added.

Another area highlighted by the Committee relates to marriage, household and family relations, whereby it said that gender stereotypes in families are among the most common, deeply embedded, and linked to social attitudes and power relations concerning marriage, divorce, alimony, custody, distribution of marital property, housing and land, inheritance, guardianship, nationality, entering contracts, harmful practices, widowhood, and levirate marriages.

It said constitutions, laws, and policies often treat women as homebound, subordinate, and as property, which can pose challenges in the areas of inheritance, name changes, marriage, divorce, pension distribution, social security loans, financial credits, and acquisition and transfer of nationality.

The Committee said many of these arbitrary and unjustified distinctions in the law also promote gender-based violence and perpetuate discriminatory treatment.

The Committee also cited several other areas of specific concern whereby gender stereotypes prevail, including education; employment and economic empowerment; health; access to justice; political and public participation; sports and recreation; media and the entertainment industry; digital technologies, artificial intelligence, and cybersecurity; armed conflicts, climate-related disasters, and humanitarian crises; culture, religion, and harmful practices; and gender-based violence against women.

On gender-based violence, the Committee underscored the link between gender stereotypes and the continued prevalence of gender-based violence against women, including in families, education institutions, the workplace, on the streets, businesses, and in the digital space.

The Committee recognized the wide range of measures that States parties have adopted to address gender-based violence, including laws, policies, programs, victim support services, shelters, and reporting mechanisms.

It said a multi-layered state strategy including men and boys is still needed to adequately prevent and address the underlying drivers of gender-based violence, including measures to challenge and dismantle gender stereotypes.

EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES

On emerging technologies, the Committee noted the impact of gender stereotypes against women and girls in the field of technologies, including digital technologies, biotechnologies, artificial intelligence, and cybersecurity.

It said that such technologies may reproduce and reinforce sex and gender specific biases as they are designed, developed, and deployed predominantly by men and powerful business interests. They rely on input, algorithms, and feedback embedded with gender stereotypes.

The Committee warned that artificial intelligence systems may reproduce and amplify gender stereotypes and intersecting forms of discrimination against women.

"Bias may be embedded in training data, algorithms, and models, and reinforced by the under-representation of women in the development and governance of artificial intelligence."

It said this is of particular concern where AI is used in areas affecting women's rights, including employment, education, health care, financial services, social protection, and the administration of justice.

The Committee is further concerned about the use of generative and agentic artificial intelligence to facilitate gender-based violence against women and girls, including non-consensual sexualized images and videos, deep fakes, impersonation and sexual extortion, and targeted attacks on women leaders and politicians.

Digital technologies provide significant opportunities for women and girls. Digital environments, however, may also reproduce and amplify gender stereotypes and facilitate gender-based violence, it argued.

"Social media, digital platforms and content systems may disseminate, amplify, and facilitate the creation of misogynistic, sexualized, and degrading representations of women and girls."

Against this backdrop, the Committee recommended that States parties:

(a) Adopt and enforce legal and regulatory frameworks governing digital technologies, artificial intelligence, and cybersecurity - including codes of conduct - that require the identification and elimination of gender stereotypes, gender bias, and intersecting forms of discrimination;

(b) Ensure transparency, independent oversight, and meaningful human review of AI-assisted decisions and actions affecting women's rights, including agentic AI, together with accessible complaint mechanisms and effective remedies;

(c) Prevent and address the use of digital technologies, artificial intelligence, and cyber spaces to facilitate gender-based violence against women and girls and ensure effective remedies and support for victims;

(d) Require digital platforms and other relevant actors to establish transparent and effective mechanisms for preventing, reporting, and addressing gender-based violence and discriminatory content, including prompt removal mechanisms and effective remedies;

(e) Promote programs that advance alternative narratives for men and boys based on non-violence and equality in digital settings. +