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I Want an Assistant: Generative AI, Women’s Leadership, and the Redistribution of Invisible Labor

Author

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  • Marcela Kostihova

    (Department of English and Communication Studies, Hamline University, Saint Paul, MN 55104, USA)

  • Irina Makarevitch

    (Department of Biology, Hamline University, Saint Paul, MN 55104, USA)

Abstract

This essay examines generative AI (GenAI) through the lens of invisible labor, arguing that its significance for women’s leadership lies in its potential to recognize and redistribute routine forms of support work that have historically remained feminized, undervalued, and unseen. Referencing Judy Brady’s I Want a Wife and Ira Levin’s The Stepford Wives , the paper situates contemporary GenAI assistants within a longer history of gendered service, showing how professional success has long depended on hidden infrastructures of care, coordination, and administrative maintenance. The essay argues that GenAI might offer valuable assistance to women leaders when used deliberately as a bounded, supervised, and accountable collaborator rather than a frictionless servant. Ultimately, the paper contends that GenAI becomes most valuable when it makes support more visible, legitimate, and more equitably distributed.

Suggested Citation

  • Marcela Kostihova & Irina Makarevitch, 2026. "I Want an Assistant: Generative AI, Women’s Leadership, and the Redistribution of Invisible Labor," Merits, MDPI, vol. 6(2), pages 1-11, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jmerit:v:6:y:2026:i:2:p:17-:d:1968988
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