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A review by samdalefox
Invisible Women: Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for Men by Caroline Criado Pérez
challenging
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.75
Informative, infuriating, and intense. The book is facts and data gaps one after another boom boom boom. I listened to this via audio book and had to have more breaks than I usually would for a non fiction intersectional feminism book. Partly because of the barrage of statistics (I needed time to process them in my brain), but also the barrage of sadness. Sadness that half the population are treated so poorly, as an after-thought, if they're ever thought of at all. I think I may have given this 5 stars, however due to the audiobook format I couldn't access the (presumed?) bibliography to check out the references. I would ahve preferred to buy this as a physical copy to refer to, but it was on sale for £1.99 for International Women's Day so I couldn't resist.
I believe this is necessary reading for all people. Because believe it or not, the lives of women affect all people. This is an antidote to wilful ignornance. As repeatedly demonstrated throughout the book, women overwhelmingly take care of 'social reproduction' which is socialist terminology for people making (child bearing, raising, socialising, caring for). This financially unrecognised work is literally what makes the capitalist world go round.
The book does a good job at building upon ideas and concepts (such as 'man as default'), explaining what data gaps are, how they impact society, how they are limiting, harmful, or misunderstood, and how the data gaps can and should be used and rectified. There are numerous examples from intersectional communities across the globe, with what I believe to be appropriate interrogation of the available data. What I particularly appreciated was the author's attempts to highlight the benefits that can be gained from resolving these data gaps. Although equality/equity in itself is a moral good, the myriad economic, societal, and envorionmental benefits are astounding. I learnt something in each section, I'd recommend reading sequentially through it to fully benefit.
Chapters of the book:
I believe this is necessary reading for all people. Because believe it or not, the lives of women affect all people. This is an antidote to wilful ignornance. As repeatedly demonstrated throughout the book, women overwhelmingly take care of 'social reproduction' which is socialist terminology for people making (child bearing, raising, socialising, caring for). This financially unrecognised work is literally what makes the capitalist world go round.
The book does a good job at building upon ideas and concepts (such as 'man as default'), explaining what data gaps are, how they impact society, how they are limiting, harmful, or misunderstood, and how the data gaps can and should be used and rectified. There are numerous examples from intersectional communities across the globe, with what I believe to be appropriate interrogation of the available data. What I particularly appreciated was the author's attempts to highlight the benefits that can be gained from resolving these data gaps. Although equality/equity in itself is a moral good, the myriad economic, societal, and envorionmental benefits are astounding. I learnt something in each section, I'd recommend reading sequentially through it to fully benefit.
Chapters of the book:
- Intro: the default make
- Daily life
- The workplace
- Design
- Going to the Doctor
- Public life
- When it goes wrong
Content Warnings
Minor: Misogyny and Sexism