Today we present one of the titles we mentioned last week: Invisible Women: Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for Men by Caroline Criado Perez.
Colleagues Sophie and Damla have read it and can’t recommend it enough.
How did we manage to build a world where we ignore half the population with such significant and fatal consequences?
The “male-unless-otherwise-indicated” bias permeates so deeply in every aspect of our lives and culture, from how we perceive and analyze history, to how we live in and travel through our cities, culture (art, literature, music, traditions), economy, medicine, design, language, and politics. Criado Perez takes a deep dive into that gender data gap in this very well researched and articulated book, while still writing in an accessible voice.
Equal parts frustrating and educational, I would really recommend this book to everyone. There is such valuable information that feels both obvious and shockingly unknown, that I promise you that you will find something new and eye-opening in it.
This book charts the many ways in which the female has been left out of public policy, design, medicine & more (i.e. medicine testing: women’s hormones are too ‘messy’ so it’s tested on men only but then CALLED universal when it turns out to be often useless for women because of our messy hormones).
It’s full of data and research which is eye-opening, mind-numbing and made me want to rage because half the population of the world is so easily dismissed as unimportant. And so much data is still missing, too, a point repeated every chapter.
Representation matters.
Diversity leads to better lives across the board.
Understand that your point of view is only one of billions, and then listen to others who are not like you.
