Invisible Women
Data Bias in a World Designed for Men
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4.4 • 92 Ratings
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
The landmark, prize-winning, international bestselling examination of how a gender gap in data perpetuates bias and disadvantages women.
#1 International Bestseller * Winner of the Financial Times and McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award * Winner of the Royal Society Science Book Prize
Data is fundamental to the modern world. From economic development to health care to education and public policy, we rely on numbers to allocate resources and make crucial decisions. But because so much data fails to take into account gender, because it treats men as the default and women as atypical, bias and discrimination are baked into our systems.
And women pay tremendous costs for this insidious bias: in time, in money, and often with their lives.
Celebrated feminist advocate Caroline Criado Perez investigates this shocking root cause of gender inequality in Invisible Women. Examining the home, the workplace, the public square, the doctor’s office, and more, Criado Perez unearths a dangerous pattern in data and its consequences on women’s lives.
Product designers use a “one-size-fits-all” approach to everything from pianos to cell phones to voice recognition software, when in fact this approach is designed to fit men. Cities prioritize men’s needs when designing public transportation, roads, and even snow removal, neglecting to consider women’s safety or unique responsibilities and travel patterns. And in medical research, women have largely been excluded from studies and textbooks, leaving them chronically misunderstood, mistreated, and misdiagnosed.
Built on hundreds of studies in the United States, in the United Kingdom, and around the world, and written with energy, wit, and sparkling intelligence, this is a groundbreaking, highly readable exposé that will change the way you look at the world.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Feminist activist and journalist Criado Perez (Do It Like a Woman) exposes a persistent and disturbing data gap that contributes to discomfort, poverty, and risk for women. An assumption that "male" traits and experience are universal, she argues, is both cause and consequence of skewed designs in public spaces, government, medical studies, and the workforce. She produces solid evidence that the white male default infiltrates everything from artificial intelligence algorithms to disaster relief in Europe, Asia, and North America, leading to police officers who can't find protective gear that fits them, cellphone users whose devices are too large for their hands, and gender-neutral parental-leave policies that unwittingly disadvantage workers who have recently given birth or are primary caregivers. She draws on new research and interviews with experts in such disciplines as city planning that suggest considering women's needs in designs is more cost-effective, as well as more just. Criado Perez handles this material with subtle wit, calm authority, and a tendency to turn toward solutions. The book inaccurately treats womanhood as interchangeable with certain traits or experiences like small stature, having given birth to one's children, or facing gender discrimination in professional settings which will turn off some readers. But this is still a provocative, vital book.
Customer Reviews
Fantastic. Really make me see things in a clear light
I couldn’t put it down. She writes just like Malcolm Gladwell in such an educated informative and entertaining way.
Information overload
This was information overload, it was nonstop facts and stats that was dragging out the point. The whole book had one point, women are an afterthought in everything. It would have helped if author shared experiences from real life women so maybe we can relate. Most of these facts are known. It was hard to stay interested, I was bored quickly.