Image: The Guardian, Kellie French
This is a fascinating article that every man should read. An edited extract of Caroline Criado-Perez's book Invisible Women: Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for Men was published in The Guardian this week. Example after example of everyday things that we all take for granted which are inherently biased towards men in their design shocked me. The paper size A1 is designed to fit under the average arm when being carried, the average man's arm that is. Police stab vests and body armour are designed to protect you, as long as you are a man. Protective face and eye wear are designed to fit over the average face, as long as that face is male. A brick is designed to fit in your hand, a bag of cement designed to be lifted comfortably, but not if you are a woman.
That car you drive with the great safety rating, well it probably got that rating using only male crash test dummies and small male dummies as a proxy for women. And if you are pregnant, well bizarrely that edge case doesn't really warrant proper testing and besides, a seatbelt often doesn't fit on a pregnant woman anyway, madness! The article also does an eye opening job at describing how the provision of toilets in buildings is astoundingly unequal when divided 50/50, based on the usage needs of users. Again, the article is well worth the read, if only to recognise some inherent biases.
