“Revelatory – it should be required reading for policy and decision makers everywhere,” Scotland’s first minister and SNP politician Nicola Sturgeon previously said, as she spoke about Caroline Criado Perez’s Invisible Women: Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for Men. The book is a modern exposé on the day-to-day gender bias and inequalities women are forced to contend with; Criado Perez uses factual evidence to prove society has been designed for men, the ‘male default’.
Inspired by the data driven-book’s mission, consultant, writer, and producer Tracy King has launched a crowdfunder to send all 650 MPs in the UK a copy of Invisible Women. Writing on her GoFundMe page, King states: “In order for change to happen, our elected leaders must be educated about the gender gap.”
“Sure, MPs could buy their own copy of the book, but most won’t, and the exposure and pressure this campaign will bring helps ensure they read it. If women make enough noise, they can’t ignore us.”
King has begun sending copies to MPs who sit on relevant committees that affect women’s rights and issues. The books are being supplied by Waterstones at half price. The campaign has been pretty successful so far, recently reaching over half of its total goal. If the goal is exceeded, King intends to send copies of Invisible Women to other important decision makers and industry leaders.
King has already been engaging with politics, attending All-Party Parliamentary Group meetings discussing women’s health and women in STEM (Science, Technology, Education and Maths) and medicine, trying to push forward the feminist agenda. Having supported the Invisible Women author in a campaign to get women on UK banknotes and a campaign to get the first statue of a woman into London’s Parliament Square, she is well accustomed to the pursuit of feminist activism.
In the book we learn about staggering gendered structural inequality: that one in three women in the world lack access to safe toilets. That women in Britain are 50 per cent more likely to be misdiagnosed following a heart attack: heart failure trials generally use male participants. 53 per cent of women are more stressed than men at work. Tech culture is geared to a “one-size-fits-men” approach, from the size of smartphones to voice recognition with AI assistants. Inequality affects women across the intersections that make them invisible to society, from race and poverty to disability, in a world designed for able-bodied white men.
King previously supported Caroline Criado Perez in campaigns to get women on UK banknotes and to get the first statue of a woman in London’s Parliament Square. With a career focused on STEM and medicine, King herself attends All-Party Parliamentary Group meetings for women’s health and women in STEM to lobby improving wider society for women.
“For too long, women have been treated as second-class citizens. Let's educate those in power who represent us,” she writes.
You can find out more about King’s campaign on her GoFundMe page.