Willow’s Sarah O’Leary discusses the importance of inclusion and diversity in the technology and femtech spheres.

For Sarah O’Leary, the CEO of femtech Willow Innovations, one of the biggest challenges she has come up against in her career is working to innovate in a field that historically has not “been taken seriously”. She told SiliconRepublic.com that women’s health is often overlooked from an investment and innovation standpoint. 

For more than seven years O’Leary has been a part of Willow Innovations, which creates smart, AI and tech-powered solutions for post-partum women’s healthcare. She explained a significant part of her role and the work of others is in showcasing how the space itself matters.

She said, “Women’s health has been historically underfunded, with only 6pc of VC funding going to women’s health. NIH’s latest funding cuts also show the agency is cancelling grants at rates that disproportionately affect women and early-career researchers, illustrating just how much women’s health is under-researched and under-prioritised. And yet, it impacts half the population and entire families.

“Addressing issues affecting women isn’t just about equity, it’s about unlocking massive opportunities for innovation and impact. When organisations take this seriously, they’re not only improving outcomes for women, they’re building entirely new categories and markets.

With that in mind, O’Leary is of the opinion that AI has great potential to further results in the area of technology and women’s healthcare, particularly when managing post-partum concerns, as it can improve access to information and support in moments where women may feel isolated or are unsure of their options. 

That said, she noted, it is “high-stakes space” and AI should always be regarded as an enabler, never as a replacement for human care. “The most effective solutions will combine technology with clinical expertise and human oversight. 

“New mothers are navigating physical recovery, emotional shifts and often a lack of sleep and support all at once. That means AI in this space can’t be one-size-fits-all or repurposed from broader healthcare models. It needs to be intentionally designed for this specific life stage, grounded in the realities of what women are experiencing, and built to respond with nuance, accuracy and care.”

She is of the opinion that a lack of high-quality data in regards to women’s health also presents a significant challenge, as AI systems are only as good as the data they have been trained on, with O’Leary stating that “historically, that data hasn’t been comprehensive or representative of women, let alone postpartum women.”

Noting that there is very little room for error, she added, “Overcoming this looks like institutions investing in better data, ensuring clinical validation and building systems that know when to escalate to human support. It’s about using technology responsibly, with a clear understanding of both its potential and its limitations.”

Diverse voices

Undoubtedly diversity, be it in age, race, religion, culture, or the overall lived experience tends to improve working life and an organisation’s goals. The same is true of gender diversity, which for O’Leary is a factor that is critical to developing a robust, informed and human-centric women’s healthcare system. 

She explained, when diversity isn’t factored into medtech, the result is incomplete and ineffective solutions, where women and more often than not women of more marginalised backgrounds, are vastly underrepresented in research, data and the design of products. 

She said, “That means the tools and technologies being built don’t fully reflect the realities of the people they’re meant to serve.”

More specifically, she finds, “In maternal and postpartum health, the consequences of that lack of diversity are incredibly clear through the care we observe, disparities in outcomes, or a lack of solutions that truly meet women where they are. If we don’t design with diversity in mind from the beginning, we end up perpetuating the very gaps we’re trying to solve.”

Ultimately, she said she has learned that the majority of problems facing women are not unsolvable, rather they are  largely under-prioritised. But if you listen to the people you are aiming to help and design with intention you change not just the product or solution, but the experience itself.

She said, “And that has a ripple effect on confidence, on health and on how women move through this stage of life.”

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