Review of "Invisible Women" by Caroline Criado Perez

"Invisible Women" by Caroline Criado Perez discusses the profound gender bias that exists in data collection, leaving out women from even everyday activities and perpetuating the world’s view of the male default.

The book first discusses gender data gap issues in everyday life. For example, transportation and commutes may seem like something that would be relatively fair among women and men. But in fact, women have different travel needs because they often take different routes, mostly because of the pre-established stereotypes and roles that women are forced to fill. They often feel disproportionally (and justifiably) unsafe, especially at night, causing them to take even longer routes than men, and causing them to spend even greater time just on their commute. The gender data gap, which only collects data based on the travel needs and routes of men, is the reason behind not being able to indicate how to improve transportation security.

Another great example the book gives is maternity leave. The lack of maternity leave causes women a myriad of difficulties in their careers. They might not be granted maternity leave (after all, there is no official law mandating that maternity leave must be given). They might not be asked to return to work after having a baby. They might procrastinate having a family because of fears for the safety of their career. If they are openly planning on having a baby or are pregnant, they may not even be hired in the first place. The reason? Most bosses and CEOs in charge of these decisions are men, who usually carry the bias that women are going to be more focused on their role as a mother than on their role as an employee.

There are many, many more examples of how the gender data gap works in this book. These problems all exist. But the gender data gap does not give any evidence that any of these issues are true. Getting rid of the ignorance in the gender data gap is what will significantly help alleviate unconscious gender bias.

This book does an excellent job of thoroughly explaining how the world is designed for men and how gaps in data on women prevent true gender equality. A very similar book to “The Genius of Women” by Janice Kaplan, this book should be read by anyone who is passionate about making the world, even the seemingly small things, more fair and equal.