SATLA’s 2020 Women in STEM Law panel brought together three incredible women – Clare Mould, Dr Megan Prictor and Dr Melanie Tan – to delve down into looking up through the glass ceiling, and to explore the endless possibilities emerging from the culmination of diverse interests and skill sets.

As the 2021 SATLA Committee works to bring you new content examining the intersection between science, medicine and the law, revisit our Women in STEM Law event or keep scrolling for reading recommendations to keep you thinking about the work still to be done in technology and science to ensure a future based on gender equality.

Broadband

Stories of women, often written out of history, who have pioneered technology come together in Broadband. VICE futures editor and lead singer of YACHT, Claire Evans, weaves the accomplishments of pioneers including Ada Lovelace, Grace Hopper and Stacy Horn, to demonstrate the undeniable role of women in network culture and technological advancement.

The Smart Wife

Researchers Yolande Kennedy and Jenny Strengers examine the emergence of feminized AI, robotic and smart devices that carry out “wifework” – domestic responsibilities that have traditionally fallen to (human) wives. From Siri and Alexa to Hikari Azuma to Roxxxy, The Smart Wife asks whether it’s (past) time for a feminist reboot of our digital assistants and questions the human role in ensuring AI development doesn’t cause social damage.

Invisible Women

Writer, broadcaster and feminist campaigner Caroline Criado Perez uses case studies, stories and new resesarch to examine the hidden ways women are forgotten. Frightening, but hopeful, Invisible Women encourages readers to think about the social implications of technology – from the size of phones to road safety – and the roles we all must embody to build a better world.

Emotional Female

On track to becoming a surgeon, Yumiko Kadota reflects on the labels she was given from ‘emotional’ to ‘too confident’ and the extra roles she was cast with to prove herself in a male-dominated speciality – and what made her walk away from the career she’d longed for. Emotional Female is an account of the toxic culture junior doctors can experience in their training and a reminder of the role professionals in the space hold in supporting new talent.

The Medicine

From the writer of Quarterly Essay and subsequent book release Dear Life: On Caring for the Elderly comes The Medicine. In this collection of essays, Dr Karen Hitchcock takes the reader to the frontlines of everyday treatment, examining the importance of listening to patient experience, and complexities in medical work from a question of over prescribed antidepressants to the effectiveness of female Viagra to the role of psychedelics and cannabis in treating pain. It is a fearless book, encouraging deep thinking and reflection on the most humane approach.

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