Review by Booklist Review
In the #MeToo and #TimesUp era, the spotlight is on women and girls like never before. To better our world, we must include women in every facet of society, listen to women, and believe women. Perez deepens this call to action in a mission-critical mode with this inquiry into a rarely considered gender gap, the dearth of reliable data about women. The things we haven't quantified and don't know are startling. Take health care, for example. For decades, women have been underrepresented in clinical trials based on the assumption that they are biologically the same as men. This couldn't be further from the truth, and this has had mortal consequences for women. The data gap extends to transportation, technology, language, and more. We live in a world where the default is male and almost everything has been built with the average man in mind. But the world is 50 percent female, and, in order to better the lives of all of us, Perez persuasively argues, we must start accounting for women in every endeavor. As Perez brings to light systemic and invisible biases in this diligently researched and clearly written exposé, she assures readers that we have the power to make women fully visible and improve the world.--Patricia Smith Copyright 2019 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Feminist activist and journalist Criado Perez (Do It Like a Woman) exposes a persistent and disturbing data gap that contributes to discomfort, poverty, and risk for women. An assumption that "male" traits and experience are universal, she argues, is both cause and consequence of skewed designs in public spaces, government, medical studies, and the workforce. She produces solid evidence that the white male default infiltrates everything from artificial intelligence algorithms to disaster relief in Europe, Asia, and North America, leading to police officers who can't find protective gear that fits them, cellphone users whose devices are too large for their hands, and gender-neutral parental-leave policies that unwittingly disadvantage workers who have recently given birth or are primary caregivers. She draws on new research and interviews with experts in such disciplines as city planning that suggest considering women's needs in designs is more cost-effective, as well as more just. Criado Perez handles this material with subtle wit, calm authority, and a tendency to turn toward solutions. The book inaccurately treats womanhood as interchangeable with certain traits or experiences-like small stature, having given birth to one's children, or facing gender discrimination in professional settings-which will turn off some readers. But this is still a provocative, vital book. (Mar.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
In her introduction, Perez (Do It Like a Woman) explains that data bias toward men over women is both caused and perpetuated by "male universality" or "the presumption that what is male is universal" and that this failure to give equal consideration to the female perspective has put women's lives and livelihoods at risk. The bulk of the book is filled with copious examples of how this lack of female-specific data negatively affects and disadvantages women across myriad situations. The examples are divided into sections on daily life, the workplace, design, going to the doctor, public life, and when it goes wrong (conflicts, pandemics, and natural disasters). Perez concludes with an afterword in which she advocates for a shift toward the female focus that gives particular attention to the themes that appear frequently in the data bias examples-the female body, male violence against women, and women's unpaid care burden-and for increased female representation in decision-making and knowledge production as a means to make this happen. VERDICT Exhaustively researched and well argued, this volume will appeal to anyone curious about equality and social justice topics.-Sara Holder, Univ. of Illinois Libs., Champaign © Copyright 2019. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
A writer, broadcaster, and feminist activist exposes a global knowledge gap in data pertaining to gender.Criado Perez (Do It Like a Womanand Change the World, 2015), who was named Liberty Human Rights Campaigner of the Year in Britain in 2013, takes on the challenge of telling the story of the unknown, addressing countless ways in which data about women have beenand continue to beleft out of research that informs everything from daily life to public policy. The author provides an incisive narrative paced more like a novel than a scientific study, offering digestible information with a sharp dose of wit. From heart attack symptoms to usage of public transportation, women's patterns don't always replicate men's. However, like algorithms seeking simplicity, researchers may set aside differences as "atypical," thus missing the data-rich point that while women's perspectives aren't necessarily problematic, ignoring them is. Painting a portrait out of negative spacethis is "a story about absenceand that sometimes makes it hard to write about"Criado Perez draws attention to information gaps in fields as diverse as urban planning, tax law, design, medicine, technology, disaster relief efforts, and politics. In focusing on how research has ignored, obscured, or failed to address gender differences, the author offers a balance of statistics, provocative questions, and concise assessments of systemic bias and how to address it. She pinpoints how the personal and the political intersect in these data gaps, providing a lens to interrogate gender-neutral defaults and reveling in examples of how including women (sometimes a single woman) quickly "solves" persistent problems. 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. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
