Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men

by Caroline Criado Perez

Overview

#1 International Bestseller
“A rallying cry to fight back.” —Sunday Times (London)
Winner, 2019 Financial Times and McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award
Winner, 2019 Royal Society Science Book Prize

Data is fundamental to the modern world. From economic development, to healthcare, to education and public policy, we rely on numbers to allocate resources and make crucial decisions. But because so much data fails to take into account gender, because it treats men as the default and women as atypical, bias and discrimination are baked into our systems.

And women pay tremendous costs for this bias in time, money, and sometimes with their lives. Celebrated feminist advocate Caroline Criado Perez investigates the shocking root cause of gender inequality and research in Invisible Women, diving into women’s lives at home, the workplace, the public square, the doctor’s office, and more. Chapters here include:

• Can Snow-Clearing Be Sexist
• The Myth of Meritocracy
• The Henry Higgins Effect
• One-Size-Fits-Men
• Yentl Syndrome
• From Purse to Wallet
• Women’s Rights Are Human Rights

Perez writes in her preface, “It’s when women are able to step out from the shadows with their voices and their bodies that things start to shift. The gaps close. And so, at heart, Invisible Women is also a call for change. For too long we have positioned women as a deviation from standard humanity and this is why they have been allowed to become invisible. It’s time for a change in perspective. It’s time for women to be seen.”

Built on hundreds of studies in the US, the UK, and around the world, and written with energy, wit, and sparkling intelligence, this is a groundbreaking, unforgettable exposé that will change the way you look at the world.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781419729072
Publisher:	Abrams Press
Publication date:	03/12/2019
Pages:	272
Sales rank:	32,603
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.00(d)

About the Author

Caroline Criado Perez is a writer, broadcaster, and feminist activist, named Liberty Human Rights Campaigner of the Year and OBE by the Queen. She has a degree in English language and literature from the University of Oxford, and she studied behavioral and feminist economics at the London School of Economics. She lives in London.

Editorial Reviews

As Invisible Women illuminates, in an almost overwhelming way, communities pay tremendous costs for the gender data gap: costs of income, time, women's health, and sometimes women's lives.

Bustle

Even with all the progress women have made in the last few decades, Invisible Women proves we still have a long way to go. Reading this book—preferably in a comfortably warm room—is the first step.

PureWow

The thoroughness of Invisible Women doesn’t detract from its absolute readability. This is entertaining, scholarly and so very important.

author of A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived - Adam Rutherford

A powerful call to bust the myths and bridge the gap.

Nature

Criado Perez doesn’t set out to prove a vast conspiracy; she simply wields data like a laser, slicing cleanly through the fog of unconscious and unthinking preferences.

The Guardian

Feminist campaigner, Caroline Criado-Perez left us gobsmacked with Invisible Women, an in-depth look at how women are (still) excluded in society.

Refinery29 (UK)

"A blisteringly good book... never less than eye-opening, and frequently staggering."

The Bookseller

Shocking, yet essential, reading.

Stylist

“Invisible Women is a game-changer; an uncompromising blitz of facts, sad, mad, bad and funny, making an unanswerable case and doing so brilliantly. … the ambition and scope — and sheer originality — of Invisible Women is huge; no less than the story of what happens when we forget to account for half of humanity. It should be on every policymaker, politician and manager’s shelves.

The Times (UK)

Brilliant … Invisible Women lays out in impressive detail the many ways that human beings are presumed to be male, as well as the wide-reaching effects of this distorted view of humanity.

The Nation Katha Pollitt

The most important book I have ever read.

Women You Should Know

This book is a devastating indictment of institutionalised complacency and a rallying cry to fight back… Invisible Women should propel women into action.

Sunday Times (UK)

Read this book and then tell me the patriarchy is a figment of my imagination.

The New York Times - Jeanette Winterson

Brilliant.

The Economist

"An incredible book."

"99% Invisible" Roman Mars

An excellent book packed with practical information of the kind required by those attempting to dismantle the patriarchy.

The Irish Times

A diligently researched and clearly written exposé.

Booklist

Read this book and then tell me the patriarchy is a figment of my imagination.”—Jeanette Winterson, The New York Times

“Invisible Women is a game-changer; an uncompromising blitz of facts, sad, mad, bad and funny, making an unanswerable case and doing so brilliantly. … the ambition and scope — and sheer originality — of Invisible Women is huge; no less than the story of what happens when we forget to account for half of humanity. It should be on every policymaker, politician and manager’s shelves.”—The Times (UK)

“Brilliant … Invisible Women lays out in impressive detail the many ways that human beings are presumed to be male, as well as the wide-reaching effects of this distorted view of humanity.”—Katha Pollitt, The Nation

“The most important book I have ever read.”—Women You Should Know

“An excellent book packed with practical information of the kind required by those attempting to dismantle the patriarchy.”—The Irish Times

“As Invisible Women illuminates, in an almost overwhelming way, communities pay tremendous costs for the gender data gap: costs of income, time, women's health, and sometimes women's lives.”—Bustle

"In clear language, the author builds a strong case for greater inclusion with this thoughtful and surprisingly humorous view of institutional bias and gendered information gaps. While some readers may suggest that equality has arrived and gender no longer matters, this book, which should have wide popular appeal, is a solid corrective to that line of thought."—Kirkus Reviews

“Even with all the progress women have made in the last few decades, Invisible Women proves we still have a long way to go. Reading this book—preferably in a comfortably warm room—is the first step.”—PureWow

"An incredible book."—Roman Mars, "99% Invisible"

“A diligently researched and clearly written exposé.”—Booklist

“A provocative, vital book.”—Publishers Weekly

“Feminist campaigner, Caroline Criado-Perez left us gobsmacked with Invisible Women, an in-depth look at how women are (still) excluded in society.” —Refinery29 (UK)

“This book is a devastating indictment of institutionalised complacency and a rallying cry to fight back… Invisible Women should propel women into action.”—Sunday Times (UK)

“Brilliant.”—The Economist

“There’s a sense of rage simmering beneath the surface of Invisible Women, every now and then it bubbles up in the text, but the book’s force doesn’t derive from the power of its rhetoric – instead it’s the steady, unrelenting accumulation of evidence, the sheer weight of her argument. … Reading Invisible Women one might experience, as I did, the dizzying sensation that so many of my own stories, so many of my friends’ stories, so many incidents I had experienced as discrete and unrelated – at work, at home, on the streets, in hospital – are in fact interconnected. As women, we are so used to contorting ourselves to fit into men-shaped spaces, we’ve learned to ignore how often it hurts.”—The New Statesman

“A powerful call to bust the myths and bridge the gap.”—Nature

“Shocking, yet essential, reading.”—Stylist

“Criado Perez doesn’t set out to prove a vast conspiracy; she simply wields data like a laser, slicing cleanly through the fog of unconscious and unthinking preferences.”—The Guardian

“Invisible Women is an absorbing cornucopia of thought-provoking facts - fascinating, alarming and face-palming in equal measures. Caroline Criado Perez shows up the shortcomings of a world designed for men by men. The consequences of treating men as the default option, or women just as smaller men – if they get considered at all - has wide-reaching implications for everything (and everyone) from snow clearing to seat-belts and many branches of medicine. I shall certainly think of this book next time I have a heart attack, a car crash or just want to go to the toilet at the theatre.”—Georgina Rippon, Professor Emeritus of Cognitive Neuroimaging, Aston University

"A blisteringly good book... never less than eye-opening, and frequently staggering."—The Bookseller

“The thoroughness of Invisible Women doesn’t detract from its absolute readability. This is entertaining, scholarly and so very important.”—Adam Rutherford, author of A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived

From the Publisher

Invisible Women is an absorbing cornucopia of thought-provoking facts - fascinating, alarming and face-palming in equal measures. Caroline Criado Perez shows up the shortcomings of a world designed for men by men. The consequences of treating men as the default option, or women just as smaller men – if they get considered at all - has wide-reaching implications for everything (and everyone) from snow clearing to seat-belts and many branches of medicine. I shall certainly think of this book next time I have a heart attack, a car crash or just want to go to the toilet at the theatre.

Professor Emeritus of Cognitive Neuroimaging, Aston University - Georgina Rippon

There’s a sense of rage simmering beneath the surface of Invisible Women, every now and then it bubbles up in the text, but the book’s force doesn’t derive from the power of its rhetoric – instead it’s the steady, unrelenting accumulation of evidence, the sheer weight of her argument. … Reading Invisible Women one might experience, as I did, the dizzying sensation that so many of my own stories, so many of my friends’ stories, so many incidents I had experienced as discrete and unrelated – at work, at home, on the streets, in hospital – are in fact interconnected. As women, we are so used to contorting ourselves to fit into men-shaped spaces, we’ve learned to ignore how often it hurts.

The New Statesman