Data Bias in a World Designed for Men
272 pages
English language
Published March 12, 2019
Data is fundamental to the modern world. From economic development, to healthcare, 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 bias, in time, money, and often with their lives.
Celebrated feminist advocate Caroline Criado Perez investigates the shocking root cause of gender inequality and research in Invisible Women, diving into women’s lives at home, the workplace, the public square, the doctor’s office, and more. Built on hundreds of studies in the US, the UK, and around the world, and written with energy, wit, and sparkling intelligence, this is a groundbreaking, unforgettable exposé that will change the way you look at the world.
Took me a while to understand the scope of what was included or excluded in this - the model I now have, although suggested in the opening chapter is really only confirmed in the afterword. It's not just about the data gap - it's about viewing the world through the lens of a Venn diagram of sex and gender, and the intersection between those.
Did you know men and women are physically different? Why don’t doctors get taught that? Why don’t vehicle safety tests take that into account? Why is medical and drug research heavily biased towards male subjects with minimal effort to evaluate the physiological differences that do show up?
The Invisible Woman takes a look at all the small (and big) things that get overlooked when women’s input isn’t considered. It discusses UI, personal protective equipment, company policies, city design, medicine, and more, with much of the discussion supported by some academic tier research.
I don’t universally agree with all her positions on political/policy changes to address the issue, but she does make a compelling case that this is something people need to be aware of and make deliberate effort to mitigate.
The introduction is a bit rough, barraging you with numbers that in my opinion don’t work particularly well to introduce …
Did you know men and women are physically different? Why don’t doctors get taught that? Why don’t vehicle safety tests take that into account? Why is medical and drug research heavily biased towards male subjects with minimal effort to evaluate the physiological differences that do show up?
The Invisible Woman takes a look at all the small (and big) things that get overlooked when women’s input isn’t considered. It discusses UI, personal protective equipment, company policies, city design, medicine, and more, with much of the discussion supported by some academic tier research.
I don’t universally agree with all her positions on political/policy changes to address the issue, but she does make a compelling case that this is something people need to be aware of and make deliberate effort to mitigate.
The introduction is a bit rough, barraging you with numbers that in my opinion don’t work particularly well to introduce you to the topic, but it’s worth powering through.
I also, as someone broadly interested in intelligence on the individual, collective, and artificial levels, took it more broadly as a cautionary tale of making decisions without making effort to understand a variety of positions, and the dangers of treating groups of people as one homogenous entity. In some ways, while the subject matter is different, there are a lot of parallels to David Epstein’s Range. You can’t make effective decisions without some understanding of several distinct perspectives on a problem.
So, from multiple angles, this book is worth reading. It does get a little dense at times and makes some points strongly, but if you let yourself you should learn a lot.
