! ! Adrea Cope CAS 137H Dr.

Raman 4 October 2013

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Women in the World Analysis In a constantly evolving global community there are thousands of advances every single day. Some are much more prominent than others, but our society is growing accustomed to watching evolution reach new heights and seeing groundbreaking innovations consistently. However, a speech given by former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton says otherwise. On April 5th, 2013, Ms. Clinton spoke at the Women in the World Summit conference to address the issues of womens rights that essentially haunt every crevice of the world. Rights, in fact, that are not advancing but instead retreating. Ms. Clintons speech is indeed a rhetorical masterpiece. She sends a pleading call to a plethora of audiences in an attempt to change the mindset of ignorant or powerless people globally. Utilizing her personal past experiences as well as drawing on historical events and dramatic appeals to emotion, her message is urgent and clear: something must be done. Although Ms. Clinton proves to have quite a mastery for oration, her persona is also enough to make a mark. Her background makes her speech just that much more powerful. A highly intelligent and successful lawyer, Ms. Clinton taught at a law school in Fayetteville, Arkansas where she heavily advocated education and the importance of creating healthy habitats for children (Hillary Clinton Office 1). After her husband Bill was elected President and she served as First Lady, Ms. Clinton really made her debut in

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the public spotlight. It was here that she began speaking passionately for human rights, but more specifically, womens rights (Hillary Clinton Office 1). She then served as Senator of New York until the Obama administration appointed her as Secretary of State during President Obamas first term. Again, she made a point to make womens rights and human rights her biggest project while traveling globally (Hillary Clinton Office 2). It is critical to consider her background when analyzing the case she presents in her speech; her well-known establishment in the field of womens rights adds more meaning and certainly includes a more serious undertone of her speech. Her globally known background will certainly assist her speech in providing more impact and validity to her audience. It is important to be aware of the sly way that Ms. Clintons words trickle through multiple types of audiences. Obviously, the direct audience is the attendees of the Summit conference. The Women in the World Foundation sponsors this annual conference, and the main mission of this corporation is to spotlight solutions and galvanize support for women of impact from around the globe (Women In The World 1). This summit conference unifies women from all over the worldfrom CEOs of massive corporations to world leaders and grassroot activists. The women that attend this Summit all share passionate beliefs regarding womens rights; it is safe to conclude that the members of her direct audience possess nearly identical beliefs to the ones that Hillary professes in her speech. For these women, this piece of oral rhetoric serves as an inspirational call to action, and this is where we can see the concept of ethos being applied to Ms. Clintons direct audience. Chances are these women are already informed of the data and historical events that Ms. Clinton utilizes in her speech. Simply hearing

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their personal passions vocalized from such an influential and powerful public figure is enough to appeal to their emotions and cement their support for the cause that she is advocating. Surely Ms. Clinton was aware of this, which is why she chose to appeal to the passion of these women. However, Ms. Clintons words are not limited to the audience of eager women sitting before her. Through televised programs and written copies of her speech on the Internet, this urgent message can be spread to virtually anyone. She recognizes the fact that she needs to reach a different kind of audience if she hopes to make progress in advancing womens rights. She says, I knew to do that, I couldnt just preach to the usual choir. We had to reach out, not only to men, in solidarity and recruitment, but to religious communities, to every partner we could find (Clinton 1). From the perspective of someone who does not consider themselves a radical feminist, Hillarys speech can be seen as something incredibly shocking and perhaps slightly unnerving. She uses the concept of ethos by presenting her information in such a way that her message seems direly urgent, and might possibly be interpreted as a kind of scare tactic to promote immediate awareness for this cause. With some slight assumptions, it becomes clear that Ms. Clinton uses different appeals to emotion in order to spark the interest and catch the attention of her multiple audiences. To her direct audience, the feminists of the conference, she appeals to their sense of passion as she vocalizes everything they believe in. She approaches her indirect audiences in a different way, creating a sense of urgency and awareness that opens the eyes of her less informed listeners. Ms. Clintons speech presents the issue that women around the world are being treated as second-class citizens, as some kind of subhuman species. To prove her point,

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she references many recent events that illustrate inequality for woman. Her example of this is the country of Pakistan. Clinton then goes on to quote a girl she references as simply Malala. As Malala has said and reminded us: we live in the 21st century. I have the right to play. I have the right to sing. I have the right to talk. I have the right to go to the market. I have the right to speak up (Clinton 3). With a little background information and analysis, Clintons quote becomes much more powerful. Malala Yousufzai was a young girl living in Pakistan during the time of Taliban takeover. When she was 14 years old, the Taliban government ordered the removal of women from school. Malala began to blog about this, speaking out against the Taliban government. In an effort to create a statement about opposing the government, a Taliban assassin cornered Malala on a school bus and shot her twice, once in the head (Kirka 1). She says, It is no coincidence that so many of the countries where the rule of law and democracy are struggling to take root are the same places where women and girls cannot participate as full and equal citizens (Clinton 2). Malala Yousufzai has made a full recovery, and the blossoming 17 year old now travels the world as a living advocate for womens rights and education. Ms. Clintons reference to Malala is a prime example of an appeal to both logos and pathos. Obviously, the tragedy of Malalas story opened the eyes of many and informed them as to just how severe female oppression was in some parts of the world. Malalas story, however, is also entirely factual. By referencing this one tragic incident Ms. Clinton is proving that her words are not empty. She is using these examples to provide her audiences with logical reasoning as to why she believes something must be done. This gives her credibility; she is able to back up her call to action by proving that there are indeed problems that need to be fixed. Aside from Malala, Ms. Clinton

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references other incidents of female oppression in an attempt to prove just how lacking womens rights are in todays age. She mentions the 23-year-old Indian women who was raped and beaten on a Delhi bus, the blue bra woman who was beaten in Tahrir Square, or the 6-year-old Afghani girl who was sold into marriage to settle a family debt. These factual, historical events make Ms. Clintons point so much more real. By providing such clear and explicit details, I believe her audiences will take her point more seriously, which is exactly what she is striving for. Hillary Clintons talent for oration and persuasion can be clearly seen in this speech. She is able to introduce her beliefs on womens rights while convincing her various audiences that something must be done to stop the oppression. Ms. Clintons background strengthens the seriousness of her speech, however she also uses a strong appeal to emotion while backing up her opinions with credible events that have happened globally regarding the rights of women. The Women in the World Summit conference was an excellent place to leave a lasting impression, as the passionate feminists in her direct audience were hanging on to every word she delivered. Her strong appeal to emotions and persuasion tactics create a powerful piece of rhetoric that will certainly be referenced for years to come.

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! Works Cited

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"About Us." Women in the World Foundation. Women in the World Foundation, n.d. Web. 03 Oct. 2013. Henning, Martha L. "Ethos, Pathos, and Logos." Ethos, Pathos, and Logos. N.p., Aug. 1998. Web. 01 Oct. 2013. "HillaryClintonOffice.com." Hillary Clinton Office. N.p., 5 Apr. 2013. Web. 1 Oct. 2013. Kirka, Danika. "Malala Yousufzai, Pakistani Girl Shot by Taliban, Leaves U.K. Hospital." The Washingtion Times. The Washington Times, 4 Jan. 2013. Web. 03 Oct. 2013.