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eandrews80 's review for:
Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men
by Caroline Criado Pérez
challenging
hopeful
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Two good friends recommended this to me, each of them saying something along the lines of, "This is excellent, but it's going to make you furious." THEY WERE RIGHT.
As a woman, I am well aware that my gender faces innumerable obstacles, injustices, and degradations -- but to see it all spelled out in one book, with so much good data and research underpinning it, is a blow. It's also validating, and I hope that since its publication in 2019, the gender data gap has improved.
It's hard not to come away from the book being furious with men as a category. I know plenty of wonderful men, but on the whole, yikes. Some of the behavior described in the book isn't malicious; a man cannot be expected to intimately understand the perspective and experiences of a woman, so it's not like they're purposely designing things to be hostile to women. Except that plenty of men in leadership don't see the need -- or even fight back against -- for the inclusion of more women in leadership roles, which is galling.
The thing that left me the most livid was the ongoing issue of sexual violence against women. So many of the stories of the book included situations in which poor, male-centered design of spaces and situations led to women being sexually assaulted or even killed. (For example, gender neutral refugee camps without sex segregated bathrooms.) There's only so much data, female representation, and gender inclusive design can do when men cannot stop raping women. It leaves me speechless with rage.
As a woman, I am well aware that my gender faces innumerable obstacles, injustices, and degradations -- but to see it all spelled out in one book, with so much good data and research underpinning it, is a blow. It's also validating, and I hope that since its publication in 2019, the gender data gap has improved.
It's hard not to come away from the book being furious with men as a category. I know plenty of wonderful men, but on the whole, yikes. Some of the behavior described in the book isn't malicious; a man cannot be expected to intimately understand the perspective and experiences of a woman, so it's not like they're purposely designing things to be hostile to women. Except that plenty of men in leadership don't see the need -- or even fight back against -- for the inclusion of more women in leadership roles, which is galling.
The thing that left me the most livid was the ongoing issue of sexual violence against women. So many of the stories of the book included situations in which poor, male-centered design of spaces and situations led to women being sexually assaulted or even killed. (For example, gender neutral refugee camps without sex segregated bathrooms.) There's only so much data, female representation, and gender inclusive design can do when men cannot stop raping women. It leaves me speechless with rage.