overview
Invisible Women: Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for Men by Caroline Criado Perez is a groundbreaking book that reveals how data bias affects women's lives in various domains.
Highlights
- Gender Data Gap: The book exposes the pervasive and often invisible gender data gap, demonstrating how the absence of data on women leads to systemic discrimination and bias in everything from healthcare to urban planning.
- Impact on Health and Safety: Perez illustrates that women are more likely to be misdiagnosed in medical emergencies and suffer more serious injuries in car accidents because safety equipment and medical research are based on male data.
- Everyday Inconveniences: The book details how everyday items and environments are designed with men in mind, leading to inconveniences and hazards for women. Examples include smartphones that are too large for women's hands and public transport systems that do not accommodate women's typical travel patterns.
- Economic Disadvantages: Women perform the majority of unpaid labor, which is not accounted for in economic models, leading to policies that disadvantage women economically. The book argues for the importance of recognizing and valuing this labor to create more equitable economic policies.
- Recognition and Awards: The book has received significant acclaim, winning the 2019 Royal Society Science Book Prize and the Financial Times and McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award. It is praised for its comprehensive research and compelling case studies.
