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Inferior: How Science Got Women Wrong-and the New Research That's Rewriting the Story Paperback – March 6, 2018

4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 1,020 ratings

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What science has gotten so shamefully wrong about women, and the fight, by both female and male scientists, to rewrite what we thought we knew

For hundreds of years it was common sense: women were the inferior sex. Their bodies were weaker, their minds feebler, their role subservient. No less a scientist than Charles Darwin asserted that women were at a lower stage of evolution, and for decades, scientists—most of them male, of course—claimed to find evidence to support this.

Whether looking at intelligence or emotion, cognition or behavior, science has continued to tell us that men and women are fundamentally different. Biologists claim that women are better suited to raising families or are, more gently, uniquely empathetic. Men, on the other hand, continue to be described as excelling at tasks that require logic, spatial reasoning, and motor skills. But a huge wave of research is now revealing an alternative version of what we thought we knew. The new woman revealed by this scientific data is as strong, strategic, and smart as anyone else.

In
Inferior, acclaimed science writer Angela Saini weaves together a fascinating—and sorely necessary—new science of women. As Saini takes readers on a journey to uncover science’s failure to understand women, she finds that we’re still living with the legacy of an establishment that’s just beginning to recover from centuries of entrenched exclusion and prejudice. Sexist assumptions are stubbornly persistent: even in recent years, researchers have insisted that women are choosy and monogamous while men are naturally promiscuous, or that the way men’s and women’s brains are wired confirms long-discredited gender stereotypes.

As Saini reveals, however, groundbreaking research is finally rediscovering women’s bodies and minds.
Inferior investigates the gender wars in biology, psychology, and anthropology, and delves into cutting-edge scientific studies to uncover a fascinating new portrait of women’s brains, bodies, and role in human evolution.
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Editorial Reviews

Review

“A brilliant approach to a long overlooked topic, Inferior is impossible to ignore and invaluable.”
Booklist

“The Enlightenment brought revolutions in science, philosophy and art while ushering in respect for human reason over religious faith. But the era also created a narrative about women—that they are intellectually inferior to men. Indeed, science itself is an establishment rooted in exclusion, writes science journalist Saini, citing a long history of unrecognized achievement by women scientists: Lise Meitner, Rosalind Franklin and Emmy Noether, to name a few. The process of science is also riddled with inherent biases that have done nothing to improve society’s views of women. Neurosexism, for example, is a term that describes scientific studies that fall back on gender stereotypes. New science and awareness are overturning a great deal of flawed thinking, as Saini shows, but there is still a long way to go.”
—Andrea Gawrylewski,
Scientific American

“In this smart, balanced, and wonderfully readable book, Angela Saini breaks the vicious cycle by which women, having been excluded from the sciences by men who assumed them to be inferior, were judged by those same male scientists to be inferior. Study by study, she objectively reexamines what we think we know about the supposed differences between the sexes. If you have ever been shouted down by a male colleague who insists that science has proven women to be biologically inferior to men, here are the arguments you need to demonstrate that he doesn’t know what he is talking about.”
—Eileen Pollack, author of
The Only Woman in the Room

“Angela Saini’s
Inferior proves the opposite of its title. It is a lively, well-written, informed account of women’s proven powers. She shows that science, long used as a weapon against women, is today an ally in their steady advance. Inferior is another nail in the coffin of male supremacy.”
—Melvin Konner, author of
Women After All

“This is an important book that I hope will be widely read. Any time biases are identified and corrected for, it is science and policymaking rather than feminism or any particular ideology that comes out ahead.”
—Sarah Blaffer Hrdy, author of
The Woman That Never Evolved, Mother Nature, and Mothers and Others

About the Author

Angela Saini is an award-winning science journalist whose print and broadcast work has appeared on the BBC and in the Guardian, New Scientist, Wired, the Economist, and Science. A former Knight Science Journalism Fellow at MIT, she won the American Association for the Advancement of Science’s Kavli Science Journalism gold award in 2015. Saini has a master’s in engineering from Oxford University, and she is the author of Geek Nation: How Indian Science Is Taking Over the World.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Beacon Press; Reprint edition (March 6, 2018)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 224 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0807010030
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0807010037
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.97 x 0.63 x 8.99 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 1,020 ratings

About the author

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Angela Saini
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Angela Saini is an award-winning British science journalist and broadcaster. Her work has appeared in National Geographic, New Scientist, Wired and The Sunday Times, and she regularly presents science programmes on the BBC. In 2020 she was named one of the world's top 50 thinkers by Prospect magazine, and in 2018 she was voted one of the most respected journalists in the UK. She has won honours from the Association of British Science Writers and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Angela has a a Masters degree in Engineering from Oxford University and was a fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

To learn more please visit angelasaini.co.uk, where you can also sign up to her newsletter.

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4.4 out of 5 stars
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Customers say

Customers find the book offers well-informed and satisfying answers to questions about gender identity. They find it a great compilation of current scientific knowledge, with interesting arguments worth studying. The book is well-written and educational, providing a good summary of the most important issues in biased science. Readers appreciate the balanced review of how science has explained issues.

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12 customers mention "Information quality"12 positive0 negative

Customers find the book provides well-informed and satisfying answers to questions about gender identity. They appreciate its compilation of current scientific knowledge, especially studies focused on primatology. The book looks at the topic from multiple points of view and considers the history of science, particularly its increasing exclusion of women. The concepts are well-defined and elaborated upon, and the language used is clear.

"...to gender identity—and actually offers deeply well-informed and satisfying answers, all informed by balanced considerations of scientific findings..." Read more

"This book reviews the history of science, particularly its increasing exclusion of women as it became professionalized, and several major errors..." Read more

"This is a really great compilation of current scientific knowledge, specifically those studies focused on finding differences between the sexes...." Read more

"...In the end, this book contains many interesting arguments worth study but fails in being particularly persuasive...." Read more

10 customers mention "Readability"10 positive0 negative

Customers find the book easy to read and informative. They appreciate the well-researched content and author's skill in presenting compelling evidence. The book is described as an educational read that they would recommend.

"...All the while the author emphasizes delicately and methodically parsing apart the effects of the Western scientific field's deeply entrenched..." Read more

"...This is an excellent brief, readable summary of biased bad science directly relevant to social life and women's rights...." Read more

"Such a good book, I learned a lot. Extremely well written and important to read. Highly recommend it as well as Superior by Angela Saini." Read more

"...women psychology, women physiology, gender studies, this well-researched text presents compelling evidence that women are not inferior to men in..." Read more

3 customers mention "Pacing"3 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the book's pacing and balanced review of science. They find it a good review of Darwin's beliefs about women and an excellent survey of how objective science has been.

"Saini provides an excellent survey in how “objective” science has been used historically to provide “evidence” of the inferiority of women and how..." Read more

"...like it’s all about women in the description, but it is a very balanced review of how science has “explained” both men and women though history and..." Read more

"A good review on Darwin's beliefs about women..." Read more

'Inferior' findings in line with Google Memo
4 out of 5 stars
'Inferior' findings in line with Google Memo
I came to 'Inferior' after reading Saini's article on The Guardian comparing the Google Memo to eugenics. The book came recommend by Scientific American and seemed a great start to get a better handle on the science contradicting Damore's position. It is a firm policy of mine to question my own believes and correct for my biases as much as possible so I started reading. One of Damore's points was the idea espoused by Simon Baron-Cohen that empathizing–systemizing theory is a better predictor than gender for who chooses STEM subjects and that there are reliable sex differences in the general population where more females showing the profile E>S and more males showing the profile S>E.Saini covers this theory in some depth. She introduces her counter expert, professor Melissa Hines, as "the most balanced and fair researcher in her discipline" and quotes her saying that "sex differences in empathising and systemising is about half a standard deviation". She says that "It's small" and "for a lot of things, we do not show any sex difference". Later Hines is quoted as following "I do believe that testosterone prenatally sets things in motion in a certain direction, but that doesn't mean it's inevitable. It's like a river. You can change its course if you want to." Saini also quotes a study that says that "there are more men of extremely low intelligence and more men of extremely high intelligence" as well as a former collaborator of Baron-Cohen who states that "it's only at the extremes where researchers seem to find any discrepancies". Saini concludes the chapter by stating "Changing the river's course is easier than it seems. It depends on society wanting to change in the first place".In summary these are the facts of the matter according to Saini:a) 0.5 standard deviation in empathizing–systemizing between the sexesb) discrepancies at the extremes in intelligence and possibly E/Sc) possible to social engineer biological predispositions awayRe a: 0.5 standard deviations is no slam dunk - but it is not 0. To make up your own mind how small or large 0.5 standard deviations are I suggest going to wolframalpha.com and entering "0.5 standard deviations" in the search field and looking at the resulting graphic. Now overlay two standard distribution curves on top of each other that are 0.5 standard deviations apart and you essentially get the bell curve graph in the Google Memo.Re b: According to Saini's own research and expert opinion there are differences at the extreme ends of the spectrum. In the case of the Google Memo we are not comparing the middle of the bell curves, we are comparing the extreme ends. After all Google is notorious for only employing the best of the very best i.e. the extremes.Re c: Water flowing down hill is a great example of the path of least resistance. Yes - we can change the flow of rivers. Saini does not make a case for why we should do that however. I would have liked to see an analysis in favour of socially engineering, but it was not provided. This leaves the question: if the river flows naturally in a certain direction why not run with that?In summary, I could find nothing in 'Inferior' that allows Saini to liken the Google Memo to eugenics. Not by a long shot. Quite the opposite - her findings overlap the data in the Google Memo very well. The only difference is her interpretation. In addition it should be clear from my own extensive writing over the past 10 years that I am holding the position that empathizing is the higher virtue when compared to systemizing. The real question should not focus on explaining away the biological predispositions between the sexes but what can be done to place a higher value on the vital skill of empathizing in society.
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Top reviews from the United States

  • Reviewed in the United States on May 11, 2021
    Tackles long-standing unknowns with regard to nature vs. nurture as it pertains to gender identity—and actually offers deeply well-informed and satisfying answers, all informed by balanced considerations of scientific findings on the issue. All the while the author emphasizes delicately and methodically parsing apart the effects of the Western scientific field's deeply entrenched historical biases regarding gender roles so as to highlight how this has functioned to perpetuate / reaffirm pre-existing socio-cultural beliefs about gender—which, basically, are often in turn reinforced through this shakey scientific knowledge in society and culture. The book aims to walk back on all of that while also bringing to light these shortcomings—and from there, it carefully walks back forward to consider the latest findings about gender arrived at via empirical evidence / deduced by way of proper execution of scientific method.
    2 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on September 30, 2019
    This book reviews the history of science, particularly its increasing exclusion of women as it became professionalized, and several major errors promulgated by male-dominated science and how they have been debunked in the modern era. Examples include the ideas that women are mentally inferior to men, either for unspecified reasons or because their brains were smaller, and that women are naturally sedentary, passive and submissive, and monogamous. This is an excellent brief, readable summary of biased bad science directly relevant to social life and women's rights.

    There's not as much coverage of less directly harmful areas of science that have been skewed by male bias. For example, there's a brief mention of a past attitude that the "passive egg, active sperm" model represented natural behavior of the humans who produced those gametes. However, that model isn't even true; male scientists avoided admitting that the egg-sperm interaction involves (gasp) receptors on the sperm. The improvement in primatology due to the entrance of women into the field is covered; I suspect that the same is true for other areas of zoology that weren't covered. This book certainly covers the major types of pseudoscience that were - and often still are - directly used against women; a complete catalog of how gender (and perhaps also racial) exclusivity in all sciences may have reduced their historical quality would take multiple large volumes.
    9 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on September 30, 2017
    This is a really great compilation of current scientific knowledge, specifically those studies focused on finding differences between the sexes. I really liked the way the author not only talks about current science and societal efforts to use this science as a way to keep women 'in their place,' but also the way she shows how this has been done throughout recorded history. I thought this really brought home how science, among many other levers in society, has been used to try to keep women in an inferior position relative to men. I recommend this book to anyone, especially women tired of hearing worn out platitudes that have been used for generations as an excuse as to why they can't get ahead or shouldn't participate in public life.
    34 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on November 9, 2023
    Such a good book, I learned a lot. Extremely well written and important to read. Highly recommend it as well as Superior by Angela Saini.
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    5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing book, extremely relevant read (sadly)
    Reviewed in the United States on November 9, 2023
    Such a good book, I learned a lot. Extremely well written and important to read. Highly recommend it as well as Superior by Angela Saini.
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  • Reviewed in the United States on February 19, 2018
    Unfocused and poorly edited, this book spends far more time providing examples of how Western cultures get woman wrong and not nearly enough time examining how the scientific community got women wrong.

    The author and her editors should have studied The Nurture Assumption and its sequel to gain insight on how to tackle cultural beliefs and debunk bad science. For example, the examination of the Baron-Cohen study of infants staring at faces or mechanical objects could have been a succinct example of really bad science that has influenced other scientists, the media, and the general public. Instead, the authors wanders about for page after page before examining the study’s design flaws and the inability of other scientists to reproduce its results. Similarly, the author could have spent more time and been far more effective on the plasticity of our brains - on how culture itself, by encouraging boys to play with mechanical objects and girls to play with dolls, may in fact create quantifiable differences between the sexes, in spacial orientation tests and verbal interaction levels for example. In such cases, the science is probably getting it wrong because researchers are mistaking causation - outcomes are different because of training, not underlying structural differences in the brains of men and women. In the end, this book contains many interesting arguments worth study but fails in being particularly persuasive.

    Yes, scientists, being bound by their own cultural straitjackets, get lots of stuff wrong, especially in the social sciences, but over time the scientific method will correct these errors. This book is a step in that direction, but just a small one.
    17 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on February 6, 2018
    Saini provides an excellent survey in how “objective” science has been used historically to provide “evidence” of the inferiority of women and how it continues to be used to “prove” gender differences. From primate social structures to fMRIs, Saini details the ways what we choose to research, how we interpret data, and which results receive attention and funding are often as influential in the conclusions as any data collected. A great primer in gender biases in scientific research and a concise rebuttal of biological essentialism, with some of the history of the women who have fought to be treated equally by science for centuries.
    6 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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  • Victoria
    5.0 out of 5 stars Super!
    Reviewed in Germany on January 4, 2025
    Für jede Mann und Frau eine Empfehlung!
  • Nicolas
    5.0 out of 5 stars Révolutionnaire
    Reviewed in France on February 3, 2024
    A lire de toute urgence pour comprendre comment même la science peut être sexiste. Le tout extrêmement bien documenté et avec toujours de la place pour les théories « adverses »
  • Amazon Customer
    5.0 out of 5 stars Ability with Math and Sciences does not diminish femininity!
    Reviewed in Canada on February 28, 2019
    With a background in science, I liked the reference to many women scientists. Well supported. Women have always been under more scrutiny. It is challenging to have your voice heard in a world where men's opinions/words have historically been given more credibility. I like the concept that our brains, whether male or female is fluid, and that we are greatly influenced by social/cultural experiences. Highly recommend this read. Please introduce to girls of 12, 13 years of age. Science and mathematics provide a sound foundation for more career opportunities. Girls are just as capable as boys to do well with mathematics.
  • Cliente Amazon
    5.0 out of 5 stars Feminismo científico
    Reviewed in Brazil on January 4, 2019
    Um excelente livro sobre feminismo e ciência. Muito bem escrito e com informações relevantes.
  • Amazonian Customer
    5.0 out of 5 stars Sadly a necessary and important read
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 5, 2020
    Inferior is a very readable and thoroughly researched account of how science has ignored, excluded and misinterpreted women over the years.
    Whether it is the product of unconscious bias or the assumption that women's behaviour is not fundamentally affected by the patriarchal societies we live in, often the finest minds in science have simply got us wrong.
    Angela Saini tears these preconceptions about gender apart and as well as documenting the history of science that incorrectly judged women to be inferior, she also looks at some of the modern research that is setting the story straight.
    In the 21st century it seems insane that a book like this should be necessary, let alone required reading, but it is.