The second Reading for Change event takes Angela Saini's “Inferior” as an entry point to SDG 5 Gender Equality! In Inferior, Angela Saini explores the extent to which sexism impacts scientific research. Delving into studies in fields like biology, psychology and anthropology, Saini challenges our preconceptions about men and women and their so-called fundamental differences. In this accessible, eye-opening book, Saini takes us through the past prejudices that still inform science today, and looks towards a future that can grow beyond them.
Join author Angela Saini and neuroscientist Vidita Vaidya in conversation about "Inferior" and SDG 5, using the book as an entry point to discuss gender equality and women in science. Read the book and join the discussion with your thoughts, reflections and questions.
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About the speakers:
Angela Saini is an award-winning British science journalist and broadcaster. She presents science programmes on the BBC, and her writing has appeared in New Scientist, The Sunday Times, National Geographic and Wired. Her latest book, Superior: the Return of Race Science, was a finalist for the LA Times Book Prize and named a book of the year by The Telegraph, Nature and Financial Times. Her previous book, Inferior: How Science Got Women Wrong, has been translated into thirteen languages. Angela has a Masters in Engineering from the University of Oxford and was a Fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Vidita Vaidya is a Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR). Her research group is interested in understanding the neurocircuitry of emotion. Vidita has a BSc in Life Science and Biochemistry (St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai) and a PhD in Neuroscience (Yale University). She was a postdoctoral fellow at the Karolisnka Institute and then at Oxford University, prior to setting up her own lab at TIFR in 2000. The work of her group was recognized by the National Bioscientist Award (2012) and the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Medical Sciences (2015) from the Govt. of India. She also received the Nature Excellence in Mentoring Award in the Mid-career Category in 2019. Vidita is committed to inclusion and diversity in academia.
About the series:
Books have been our windows to the world for the past several centuries. When we talk about the future of the planet, books can continue to help us understand the multiplicity of approaches needed for our journey ahead.
In this series, we look at the the UN Sustainable Development Goals - the SDGs - as facets of our daily lives and not as distant landmarks in space and time. Over the next year Champaca Bookstore, Science Gallery Bengaluru and Bengaluru Sustainability Forum will curate a collection of books for you that closely relate to the themes of the SDGs. These will open up avenues of discussion to connect the SDGs and books with the city and you, the people of the city.