Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men, by Caroline Criado Perez

The author is incredibly (and rightfully) angry about the many ways (and there are oh so many) in which women are disadvantaged in our data-driven world, data which was gleaned from centuries in which men were considered the default data set and women were atypical. Her chapters overflow with examples of how discrimination compounds on discrimination (men, who controlled the historical narrative, left out or covered up the accomplishments of women, thereby creating a biased record used by modern-day men to claim that women historically did little and were therefore not worthy of study, thereby continuing a trend of bias, etc etc). This data bias means that women’s health is neglected when it comes to research, drugs, and treatment; that women’s physiology is overlooked when it comes to designing for things like automobiles and buildings; that AIs trained on male-based datasets will invisibly prioritize men over women during job searches, etc. Unfortunately, the laser focus of this book is also its weakness; Criado Perez’s single-minded effort to blame sexism for every negative aspect of society overlooks or ignores other contributing factors, and her extreme gender binary view of the world feels uncomfortably dated. Still, a pretty decent (and very enraging) compilation of sexism overall.