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A review by savvylit
Invisible Women: Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for Men by Caroline Criado Pérez
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.
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual violence, Violence, and Medical content