''Inferior: How Science Got Women Wrong and the New Research That's Rewriting the Story'' is a 2017 book by science journalist

Angela Saini Angela Saini (born in London, 1980) is a British science journalist, broadcaster and the author of books, of which the fourth, ''The Patriarchs: The Origins of Inequality'', was published in 2023. Saini has worked as a reporter and presenter fo ...

. The book discusses the effect of sexism on scientific research, and how that sexism influences social beliefs. The book was published by

Beacon Press Beacon Press is an American left-wing non-profit book publisher. Founded in 1854 by the American Unitarian Association, it is currently a department of the Unitarian Universalist Association. It is known for publishing authors such as James B ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

and

Fourth Estate Books Fourth or the fourth may refer to: * the ordinal form of the number 4 * ''Fourth'' (album), by Soft Machine, 1971 * Fourth (angle), an ancient astronomical subdivision * Fourth (music), a musical interval * ''The Fourth'' (1972 film), a Sovie ...

in the United Kingdom.

Reception

According to ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'' Angela Saini "paints a disturbing picture of just how deeply sexist notions have been woven into the fabric of scientific research". ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' noted that Saini "discovers that many of society’s traditional beliefs about women are built on shaky ground". The ''

Ahmedabad Mirror ''The Times of India'', also known by its abbreviation ''TOI'', is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by The Times Group. It is the third-largest newspaper in India by circulation and largest se ...

'' pointed out that Saini "exposes

Charles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all species of life have descended fr ...

's prejudices and how his views on a woman's place in society tinted, or rather tainted, his theories." ''Inferior'' was launched in June 2017 at the

Royal Academy of Engineering The Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng) is the United Kingdom's national academy of engineering. The Academy was founded in June 1976 as the Fellowship of Engineering with support from Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, who became the first senior ...

. A month after its release, ''Inferior'' was recommended by ''

Scientific American ''Scientific American'', informally abbreviated ''SciAm'' or sometimes ''SA'', is an American popular science magazine. Many famous scientists, including Albert Einstein and Nikola Tesla, have contributed articles to it. In print since 1845, it i ...

''. It was a finalist in the

Goodreads Goodreads is an American social cataloging website and a subsidiary of Amazon that allows individuals to search its database of books, annotations, quotes, and reviews. Users can sign up and register books to generate library catalogs and read ...

Choice Awards for "Best Science and Technology" in 2017. ''Inferior'' was ''

Physics World ''Physics World'' is the membership magazine of the Institute of Physics, one of the largest physical societies in the world. It is an international monthly magazine covering all areas of physics, pure and applied, and is aimed at physicists in ...

'' "Book of the Year" for 2017. In the review by ''

Chemistry World ''Chemistry World'' is a monthly chemistry news magazine published by the Royal Society of Chemistry. The magazine addresses current events in world of chemistry including research, international business news and government policy as it affects ...

'', Jennifer Newton wrote "I cannot recommend it highly enough". After the release of ''Inferior'', Angela Saini was invited to speak at universities and schools around the country, in what became a "scientific feminist book tour". Egyptology student Julien Delhez, writing for the journal ''

Evolution, Mind and Behaviour Evolution, Mind and Behaviour is an open access journal focusing on "the application of evolutionary theory to the human behavioral sciences". The journal publishes both empirical and theoretical papers. The authors come from a variety of discipl ...

'' in 2019, criticized ''Inferior'' for creating confusion that could potentially "seriously deteriorate the dialogue between the public and the scientific community".

Reception

References

Further reading