As a STEM student, I have been guilty of neglecting my inner bookworm. I fell into the trap of thinking that I simply had no time to read and it wasn't useful for my chosen path. I have come to find that both these assumptions were incredibly wrong. Here are a few books that have provided me with valuable insight and inspired me as a woman in STEM.
Hello World: How to Be Human in the Age of Machine – Hannah Fry
This book is for anyone who enjoys both math and humanities. The author, Hannah Fry, is a mathematician and public figure who enjoys researching patterns of human behaviour.
‘Hello World’ investigates AI and the terrifying mistakes we have made with it. It covers many aspects of society such as the criminal justice system, medicine, cars, and art - showing how each has been touched by algorithms.
Hannah frequently highlights how having a more diverse workforce would have prevented the sometimes-devastating mistakes made with technology. One infamous example is Apple’s boastfully comprehensive health tracker. Software executive Craig Federighi claimed proudly, “you can monitor all of your metrics that you’re most interested in”. While managing to forget to include a simple period tracker. We can only guess how a feature that around half the population use as a serious indicator of their health was overlooked.
100 Nasty Women in History – Hannah Jewell
This book covers a range of incredible women who have not received the public acknowledgment and praise that they deserve. It tells the story of 100 women who faced gross injustices as a result of being too ambitious or intimidating for the men around them.
Hannah covers a huge range of forgotten women, from ancient warriors to scientific geniuses. It is striking how vastly different each woman’s story is, but quite unsurprising to read that they all shared the common struggle of being underestimated, overlooked, or excluded for not obeying gender stereotypes.
This is perfect to pick up whenever you feel like gaining a new role model as each story is about 2-3 pages long, but I would encourage leaving a little time between each story to fully appreciate all these forgotten women of history.
Invisible Women – Caroline Criado Perez
This book ruthlessly breaks down the bias society has crafted against women. From the plague of unpaid work, social invisibility, and medical neglect Caroline clearly disputes with strong research that gender-neutral does not equate to gender equality.
Many of her chapters issues boil down to the fact that those in power, being overtly white males, do not feel compelled to make the necessary changes. The problems that 50% of the population face are niche to them. Even when exceptional women rise-up and convince those at the top that these issues are important - there is not enough gender-disaggregated data to find real solutions.
The overwhelming message this sends is that we are treated as an add on to humanity and viewed as a complicated version of the default male. Caroline emphasises that we have to stop pretending women are too complex to fit in, especially when we live in a world that wasn’t designed for them.
Girl, Woman, Other – Bernardine Evaristo
This book explores the experience of black women in Britain and the prevalent struggles that many routinely face. It is the only fictional book in this post, following the lives of 12 women in different occupations at varying stages of their lives.
Each section of the book poetically delves into each woman's upbringing and eventually reveals how each story is connected. It may not address any STEM issues directly, but it exposes white-cisgender feminism and the damages made by this dominant culture.
Bernardine shows the reader that fighting for gender equality is useless if we aren’t fighting for women of all backgrounds. Through her characters, we are taught how important it is to prioritise intersectionality when making positive changes toward gender equality.
Written by Skye Kirwan
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