Books and further reading

On this subject

Criado-Perez, C (2019). Invisible women: exposing data bias in a world designed for men. London: Vintage.

Shows us how, in a world largely built for and by men, we are systematically ignoring half the population.

It exposes the gender data gap – a gap in our knowledge that is at the root of perpetual, systemic discrimination against women, and that has created a pervasive but invisible bias with a profound effect on women’s lives.

From government policy and medical research, to technology, workplaces, urban planning and the media, Invisible Women reveals the biased data that excludes women.

Roberts, D (2012). Fatal invention: how science, politics, and big business re-create race in the twenty-first century. New York: The New Press.

This groundbreaking book by the acclaimed Dorothy Roberts examines how the myth of the biological concept of race—revived by purportedly cutting–edge science, race-specific drugs, genetic testing, and DNA databases—continues to undermine a just society and promote inequality in a supposedly “post-racial” era. [Synopsis]

Skloot, R (2010). The immortal life of Henriette Lacks. London: Picador.

Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. Born a poor black tobacco farmer, her cancer cells – taken without her knowledge – became a multimillion-dollar industry and one of the most important tools in medicine.

Yet Henrietta’s family did not learn of her ‘immortality’ until more than twenty years after her death, with devastating consequences.

Rebecca Skloot’s fascinating account is the story of the life, and afterlife, of one woman who changed the medical world forever.