Reviews with content warning for Misogyny - Invisible Women: Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for Men

Eye-opening, and disheartening.

While I have known the world was designed for men (the phone I'm typing on right now is too big for my small, but not unusually sized hands, to be used one-handed easily), seeing the extent of it in everything from air bags to policy was very revealing. The book illustrated in many facets the repercussions of not taking women into account, and none are positive. It is quite daunting how much needs to be changed, and the book unfortunately does not offer any solutions for the world to be made more equitable from the flaws it pointed out in its writing. Additionally, the book does not delve into detail other intersectional identities like race, or at all for more prejudiced-against groups like LGBTQIA* folks. Regardless, it is a recommended read to understand how pervasive the idea of only designing for men and refusing to consider women is.

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thebearnest's review against another edition

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informative sad medium-paced

2.75

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lindsaylhunter's review against another edition

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challenging informative inspiring slow-paced

3.5

Super informative and important. It likely didn't help my rating that I read much of this in one sitting as I often struggle with non-fiction and felt that powering through was my best option. Very heavy on the stats and figures but it highlights so many interesting and important facts.

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norwegianforestreader's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

4.0

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emilybarbian's review against another edition

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informative fast-paced

1.0

This book SHOULD be 5 stars. This book is important, engaging, and enlightening. The author is thorough and clear, and she makes sure to explain how class, race, and culture intersect with patriarchal norms to create dangerous and deadly gaps in data and understanding for women.

However, she purposely and repeatedly excludes trans and non-binary people. This book is all about how dangerous it is to exclude groups of people from data-gathering and decision-making spheres, and the fact that she intentionally does the same thing to trans people is baffling.

Even more frustrating is that all of her arguments in the book apply to the trans community! It would have taken zero extra effort to be inclusive, but instead she chose not to. This is actively harmful, and it undermines her entire book. I can’t in good conscience recommend this to anyone.

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zazzyb's review

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challenging informative sad medium-paced

4.5

This is certainly a deep and insightful read. Its a book that I think every woman should read, its one I will suggest to my friends and family both men and women.

The author strips back the layers to the basics, men and women and asks us are we biased, we believe we aren't but we truly are.

This is a love letter to all the women who have complained before that their work clothes aren't designed for them and the women who complain that medicine is biased against periods. The women are forgotten in the male centred world.

I would give this 5* which is totally deserves -- but it is very info heavy so can be a little confusing at points and there is a lot of statistics which means I did put it down a few times.
Otherwise this was a fabulous read.

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chris_reads's review against another edition

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challenging informative reflective fast-paced

5.0

Equal parts fascinating and frustrating.

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rrio's review against another edition

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dark emotional informative sad medium-paced

3.0

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