Reviews with content warning for Violence - Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men

Brilliant book that clearly explains the impact of excluding women's experience. It doesn't ignore the experience of non-white women either, but does acknowledge that although women and female data are missing, so too are data for non-white women plus pregnant and menstruateing women to a greater extent. Trans women however are not referenced at all.

It's very statistic heavy, and relentless, but a must read imo.

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laurataylor's review against another edition

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challenging informative medium-paced

4.5

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abbs17's review against another edition

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emotional informative inspiring sad medium-paced

5.0

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anil's review against another edition

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informative medium-paced

3.75

First of this is a super interesting book with some good points. Absolutely worth the read. BUT.

I have some serious issues with its very binary and cis centered language as well as the way it brushes over a lot of the differences within the groups of both (cis) men and women in a way that I don't think is helpful.

In some parts that distinction may be more superficial but in some parts it REALLY isn't because there is a huge difference for example between a medical issue going underdiagnosed because of the way people are socialized and biological differences in presentation. Even within biological differences there is the question of hormone levels vs average physical presentation for example.
All of these are massively affected by being a cis woman of course! I'm not claiming that the root cause of the issues named here is not sexism. But its also affected by certain disabilities, medical treatments (not just medical transition), ethnicity and probably a host of other factors I can't think of spontaneously. And sometimes they happen to apply to cis men even.

And of course part of the point is that some of this information is lacking because we're not doing the scientific studies but then say that! And in some instances we do know or have information that suggests directions and those are ignored by the author.

These are not just superficial concerns there are specific suggestions for solutions targeted towards women in this book that could be targeted more precisely and more helpfully by looking at who precisely is the group affected.

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xosirenox's review against another edition

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challenging informative reflective medium-paced

4.5

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savvylit's review against another edition

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informative slow-paced

4.0

What an eye-opening read this was! Criado Perez delves into so many ways that women go unacknowledged in our global culture at large. One of the most fascinating instances of this is women's unpaid work. This includes housework, cooking, gardening, childcare, eldercare, and more. By not acknowledging these tasks as work, our society fails to acknowledge so much. We ignore the emotional & physical toll AND how this work bolsters our global economy. Paid work genuinely cannot occur without unpaid work. And the majority of all unpaid work is done by women.

Additional upsetting facts straight from Invisible Women:

"By the time [girls in the U.S.] turn six.. they start doubting their gender. If a game is presented to them as intended for 'children who are really, really smart,' five year old girls are as likely to want to play it as boys -- but six year old girls are suddenly uninterested."

"PMS affects 90% of women, but is chronically under-studied: one research round-up found five times as many studies on erectile dysfunction than on PMS."

"[A] 2010 study didn't just find that female politicians were seen as less caring. It found that this perception inspired moral outrage in both male and female study participants, who viewed such women with contempt, anger, and/or disgust."

I have only one major criticism -- Invisible Women almost entirely focuses on fixing data bias within a capitalist framework. I personally wish for our global society to shift AWAY from capitalism. As I read Invisible Women, I couldn't help but wonder what gender equality would look like under a more community-oriented economic system.

Ultimately though, I think that (under current capitalist conditions) this book should be required reading. Particularly for men in any leadership role, period. There are still so many realms in the world in which women and their needs are consistently excluded.

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