Book Of The Month - Invisible Women: Exposing Data Bias In A World Designed For Men

Book Of The Month - Invisible Women: Exposing Data Bias In A World Designed For Men

There are more than 7.7 billion people on Earth today and more than half of these people are women. Yet when you look at heads of state, at governments, at corporations and at other global players, you are almost always looking at ... white men. Why is the world and its resources still run by men? Why are meaningful jobs and careers still comprised mostly of men? Why are women still not equally enjoying the fruits of their labors, of their intellectual abilities, of their dreams? And whilst this is a problem in multiple industries, why is the lack of gender diversity particularly prevalent in technology? How does this preponderance of men affect the lives of women and other minorities who are striving for equality?

In Invisible Women: Exposing data bias in a world designed for men (Chatto & Windus, 2019: Amazon US / Amazon UK), Caroline Criado Perez analyzes how gender politics are affected and enhanced by gaps in big data and argues powerfully that human history is comprised of a pervasive gender data gap that effectively ‘silences’ and erases women’s accomplishments, experiences, needs and daily lives.

In her book, Ms. Perez contends that defining women solely by their relationships to men – as wives, daughters, sisters, or mothers – allows men to view women either as a subtype of men, or as an alien ‘Other’, rather than as autonomous human beings with their own dreams, goals, desires, and specific needs. As she provocatively notes at the beginning of the book: “[I]f ‘our intellect, interests, emotions, and basic social life – all are evolutionary products of the success of hunting adaptation’, what does that mean for women’s humanity? If human evolution is driven by men, are women even human?” 

Despite the fact that it is nearly impossible to read this book without experiencing a flood of potent emotions ranging from frustration to tooth-gnashing outrage, Ms. Perez is not seeking to bash male-dominated society. She freely admits she cannot prove why the gender gap exists. Instead, she is documenting a long-standing and seemingly inescapable problem that effectively renders half of the world’s population invisible, and she is hoping that the evidence that she has amassed in her book will convince the public that this data gap exists and that it has real and profound effects on women’s lives.

Ms. Perez illustrates her argument with a wide variety of examples – and uses what little data we do have – that touch on every aspect of women's’ lives, ranging from the workplace, academic and other careers, medical research, to home life, and in daily and public life, all of which systematically neglect, ignore or completely overlook women. This contrasts with the abundance of big data on men, which are recognized as the universal norm. As a result, the fact that women can have needs that are different from those of men has not occurred to those who are creating these social structures.

Ms. Perez’s argument that big data gaps support the perception of women as ‘The Other’, and this means that the truths you arrive at are, at best, only half-truths. The author’s arguments also extend beyond the needs of women: she also discusses how the intersections of race, gender identity, disability and other minority identities are amplified by the lack of big data, which creates an even larger cumulative detrimental effect.

I highly recommend Invisible Women to both men and women as an incredibly readable piece of journalism that investigates the pervasive problem of gender inequality. I read it in one go, and I think many of you will also find you cannot put down this passionate and informative book until you’ve finished it. Invisible Women is a tremendously important book that is essential reading for people of ALL genders and from all walks of life, and will likely affect how you think about the world, and about how women fit into it. Additionally, this book is so illuminating and engaging that it would be excellent choice for your book club. If you read only one nonfiction book this year, this is the one!