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

              In this excellent book, the author convincingly proves that the world is largely designed for men. So much of the way we think and live is with men as the default and it has negative effects on women in basically every single aspect of life, from labor laws to medical care and from bus routes to toilet stalls. For example, is it really fair to dedicate equal space to men’s and women’s bathrooms? We have all seen situations with women waiting in long lines for the bathroom while men go in and out with ease. Women have more to do if they are changing pads/tampons, taking care of children, or are elderly and disabled (the majority of elderly and disabled are women). As a result of these many factors, women take up to 2.3 times as long to use the bathroom. These are sorts of indirect discrimination or “gender neutral discrimination) that make life more difficult for women than men. Another example is seat belts, which are not designed for women! Federal regulations only require that car companies test their cars’ safety with the average male height and weight crash test dummies, and women are significantly more likely to be injured in car crashes. It’s even worse if they’re pregnant. That’s probably an example of a lack on women in leadership to step in and point out the problem to the males who are making and enforcing regulations like these. I would definitely recommend this book, it’s very complete and convincing.