This book club aims to bring students and professionals of STEM subjects together, to discuss books related to women in STEM, to share views and experiences, to network and to help each other overcome the barriers in the male-dominated STEM environments.

It is organised and moderated by Dr Athina Frantzana and Spread the Word, and it is open to all genders. This year our discussions will take place online (until further notice).

For our next gathering, we are reading and discussing the very popular book by Caroline Criado-Perez : Invisible Women: Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for Men.

"In Invisible Women, campaigner and writer Caroline Criado Perez brings gender data like this to the fore. Although it sells itself as a book about data bias, it’s more of a book about data on bias, a catalogue of the facts and figures that document persistent gender inequalities in society.

These aren’t facts that will shock all women. We already know that we’re paid less, that we do far more unpaid labour at home, that the queues for our loos are longer, that we are the disproportionate victims of domestic violence. But it’s nevertheless useful and sobering to have it listed in this way, to have numbers to quantify our pain and misery. Seeing imbalance in percentage terms gives the process of understanding and combating it an important dimension.

The book offers endless nuggets to chew on. Women in the UK, Criado Perez notes, are 53% more stressed at work than men. One in three women in the world lack access to safe toilets. It took until 2011 for carmakers in the US to start using crash test dummies based on the typical female body (although this does beg the question of whether there is such a thing as a “typical” female body, and whose body carmakers consider “typical”)." (Review by Angela Saini for The Guardian)

This event will take place via Zoom. You will receive details for joining the call when you book a spot. Limited spots available for better discussion. Join us NOW!

.

.

*Dr Athina Frantzana is an Equality, Diversity & Inclusion in STEM specialist-researcher, and founder of Spread the Word. She has been researching women’s representation and experiences in STEM for years. Athina has organised and participated in a number of international and local conferences and events presenting her work. She works tirelessly towards achieving gender equality in STEM by raising awareness and sharing knowledge on women in STEM matters, through mentoring, researching, and various projects and outreach activities.

**Please do NOT buy your books from am*z*on; support your local book stores, or if you cannot afford to buy the book then PLEASE support your local library.