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Rhetorical Analysis Of Be The He For Woman

Decent Essays

Gender inequality has been an issue in society for hundreds of years and it is still a barrier for men and women today. Emma Watson, a United Nations Women Goodwill Ambassador and British actress, delivered a passionate and moving speech on gender inequality at the United Nations headquarters in New York City on September 20, 2014. Watson’s speech, “Be The He For She”, was directed towards the billions of people who watched the televised speech, as well as fellow United Nations Ambassadors. Emma Watson uses this speech in order to inform and persuade the audience about gender inequality and feminism. As she presented her speech, she was trying to persuade billions of people, mostly men, to become advocates for ending gender inequality. Through …show more content…

Logos are the use of reasoning in order to persuade the audience. Emma Watson uses logos in order to explain why we all must join the fight against gender inequality. Watson states that Hillary Clinton made a speech in 1997 about women’s rights. She states that Clinton wanted many things to change for the better about women’s rights, however much of what she wanted to change is still around today. (349) She uses Hilary Clinton’s speech in 1997 about women’s rights to support the claim that it is important for not only women, but also men to join the fight against gender inequality. Watson says, “But what stood out for me the most was that only 30 per cent of her audience were male. How can we affect change in the world when only half of it is invited or feel welcome to participate in the conversation?”(349) She then formally invites the male population to join the conversation, and says that gender inequality is their issue too. By providing the fact that only thirty percent of Clinton’s audience was male, she is implying that the more men we have supporting gender equality, the more likely we will overcome the issue. Watson provides logos to give the audience a more credible and stable reason as to why they should become advocates for ending gender …show more content…

She says, “… ask yourself if not me, who, if not now when.” (349) She uses this to create a sense of urgency. Also, this can be used to encourage the audience members to step up and become leaders. Earlier in her speech, she describes that when she was presented with the opportunity to gives this speech, she asked herself those exact same words. The parting words of Watson’s speech are meant to encourage the audience the step up and do something first hand about the issue. Also, the parting words are meant to express how important everyone’s role is in fighting against gender

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