Women; Break it or Fail it?
I remember when I was in 2nd grade, the whole school was preparing for the 2008 model election. We were quietly sitting by our desks while the teacher chatted happily about the candidates for president and vice president. As she mentioned Sarah Palin, a boy, with a bit of ketchup on his shirt, suddenly wailed something out that would lead to the hottest debate any 2nd graders could have.
“She can’t do that! She’s not a boy!”
The teacher stopped her chit-chats and looked at the boy, stunned that the boy had enough courage to say such things, but she gathered herself together, and questioned him.
“What do you mean, Dennis?’
“Only boys can be presidents! Girls suck! They can’t be anything!”
Now, I remember, that lead many girls(including me) to start shrieking in our high-pitched voices “That’s not true!” “Boys are the ones who suck! They are dummies!” “You suck!” and such words that I do not remember clearly. But what I do remember vividly is that those words spitted out by those high-pitched voices lead the whole class to start squealing at each other, although the debate(if little 2nd graders screaming at each other is considered as “debating”) quickly died by the teacher’s quick but loud word, “QUIET!”
“But why can’t girls be presidents? There’s no reason girls can’t be president. You’re stupid.” I said to Dennis. Everyone gasped.(Yes, saying the word ‘stupid’ was a big deal in our class at the time.)
“Be quiet, Soo. Now Dennis, I want you to apologize to the girls. Girls and boys are the same. Just because you are a girl, doesn’t mean you can not be the president. Anyone can be the president. Also, many women in this world have very nice jobs and they are very high-positioned.”
And that teac...
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...ldn't it be simply solved if women just worked harder? However, the solution for this problem is more complicated than it seems like. Although, some progress has been showing. 23 CEOs of the Fortune's top 500 companies, such as HP, PepsiCo., and Yahoo, are women. There has been a few women who are currently the prime minister, some being Erna Solberg, Aminata Toure, and Lamidota Straujuta.
Instead of blaming history or men for planting the seed of the glass ceiling and the wage gap, women must look into the future and start taking action as a team to penetrate this glass ceiling, because a few hammers and nails will not affect a glass ceiling. Sitting around and complaining how men are gifted with privilegdes and such will not change anything. As once an unknown man said; "No amount of guilt will change the past and no amount of worrying will change the future."
Overall, Hillary Rodham Clinton gave a convincing speech on women’s rights at the U.N. World Conference by using the key rhetorical techniques ethos, pathos, logos, and anaphora’s. The use of these techniques helped the audience believe in the cause of which Clinton was speaking about, sympathize for situations females were being put through, and working to strive towards equal rights for everyone. Clinton used the same stance throughout her speech and raised her voice at points in her speech that needed
Tannen points out “a greater percentage of discussion time is taken by men’s voices.” (2) She tells us why this is a disadvantage to the women in the classroom. She then continued to separate the two genders into their given stereotypes. Girls tend to separate themselves from large groups; they talk amongst
Women still get paid 77 cents to every dollar that a man makes. This not only perpetuates sexism in an extremely obvious way, it is also one of the most harmful. While being catcalled, or subtly put down can be a detriment to women’s psyche, the wage gap is harmful to a women’s physical and emotional well being. Most people say that in order to make a big career change, the person changing jobs should have enough money saved to live on for a full year. This is a pretty logical idea, however, this is something that is much easier for men to accomplish, given that they are paid a higher wage. They have the ability to put money away, whereas it is more likely that a women is going to have to spend all her wages just on living. She won’t be able to leave a job, even if she hates it, simply because she can not afford to. A man with her same qualifications may not have to worry about this due to the fact that he has on average 23 more cents per every dollar, than she does. This to me seems like the root of sexism, and one of the first things we as a society needs to fix in order to help woman feel more equal in the world.
Hillary Rodham Clinton is a well-recognized woman in the United States. Her great contribution as secretary of State impact people’s lives. One of many remarkable speeches Hillary gave was the “The women rights speech”, in the 4th World Conference on Women Plenary Session where she uses strong words and emotions to appeal the audience. Even though the speech talks about women rights, she wants everyone, including men and children to listen and take action. Her use of ethos, logos and pathos throughout the speech made the audience believe in her words.
“Stop spacing out, Mr. Anderson,” Mrs. Sorun said, who had thrown a paper wad at my head. “Part of your grade is listening to what your peers have to say and right now you’re failing.”
Hillary Clinton’s speech “Women Rights” transmitted a crucial message to the world and that was to do something about gender inequality. Pathos helped transmit an emotional appeal to the audience and make them see the soft side of Clinton.
One thing that could be done is to stop the Glass Ceiling Effect. There are extremely qualified women who do not have the high end jobs that they obviously deserve. We should start with larger companies and work downward. There should be a law that any large business should have at least 50% women workers so that there is less discrimination.
During my childhood, I listened to kids around me explain to parents and peers what they dreamed to be when they grew up; a policeman, a firefighter, or a ballerina were all popular answers. I, however, had a different dream; upon being asked, I would answer, “I am going to be the president of the United States.” This, unsurprisingly, often elicited a few chuckles from the inquirer. I was only a little kid, after all, decades away from even the possibility of running for such an office. What if, however, this amused response had different connotations; what if my gender was affecting people’s perception of my chances to be elected?
Additionally, we believed men deserved to have higher power by getting more money than women. After some research, we think it’s not fair that women make less than men who have the same education and the same job. In the long run, it can make it hard for women to support their families. We found out that the gender pay gap is a “complex issue with many causes”, which are often inter-related. It seems that the direct cause of this issue is discrimination. We also found out that inequality starts early; just one year out of college, college-educated women working full-time earned $32,000 compared to $42,000 for college-educated men working
During her early life, Hillary Clinton learned that a huge problem across the globe was gender inequality. Women and men were not equal. Men were making more money than women for the same jobs. She believed she could change this. On September 5, 1995 Hillary Clinton gave a speech at the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women. Clinton uses powerful rhetoric in order to create an air of sympathy for women among her audience. She is hoping to make the world become more aware of the inequalities women face daily while also making them feel ashamed for their previous actions of discriminating women, which would cause them to change their ways. She uses her speech “Women’s Rights Are Human Rights” to create awareness of the discrimination
Women are usually targeted because they are seen as the inferior gender in society. They are often displayed as sexual objects in the media, such as in porn and video games. Because of the way women are portrayed in society, they do not have the same opportunities as men. Many people may think that sexism is not an important issue anymore because women are making their way to the top. For instance, Mary Berara, the CEO of General Motors says “There are more women in more senior roles than in 1980 when I started. But from my career perspective, I don 't go into a room and take count. I want to be recognized for my contribution and for what I do” (nymag). Women are pushing themselves to work in higher positions, to prove that they have the same ability as men. Although women are becoming more and more powerful, sexism is still a huge issue today. Women may have higher positions, but they are paid less than men. According to a news article, “In 2012, the median earnings of American women working full time year-round were $37,791. American men earned a median income of $49,398. The gender wage gap has hovered at about 77 cents on the dollar since 2007” (huffington). This proves that sexism is present today since women working in the same jobs as men are paid a lower
“Both women came from completely different political points of view. Both women presented themselves in completely opposite ways on the national political stage. But, both women experienced the wrath of a society seemingly afraid to see a woman in power…. While there has been no lack of critique, analysis, and conversation about how sexism played a role in both Senator Clinton and Governor Palin’s campaigns, one thing that has not been well-identified is the resolution of how society will proceed and one day elect a female commander-in-chief” (Nedeu 2008).
From the beginning of history and to this day women still get paid less than the average man, but why? Whoever said that women are incapable of good work performance? Whoever said that women do not have the same responsibilities to maintain? What really makes a women’s work inferior to men? The answer is nothing. Today, women are depended on just as much as men, and are capable of performing at their level. However, a full-time working woman earns only seventy-seven cents for every dollar a man makes. These days women make up half the workplace in our society; they work just as hard and for the same reasons. Women deserve to be paid at an equal rate as men because they are relied on to uphold the same responsibilities and are just as qualified to perform at a man’s level.
For many decades, women have faced inequalities in the workforce. At one point, they were not allowed to work at all. Although women's rights have improved and are now able to work alongside men, they are still treated unfairly. According to the 2012 U.S. Census, women’s earnings were “76.5 percent of men’s” (1). In 2012, men, on average, earned $47,398 and women earned only $35,791. This is when comparing employees where both gender spend the same amount of time working. Not only do women encounter unfairness in work pay, they also face a “glass ceiling” on a promotional basis. This glass ceiling is a “promotion barrier that prevents woman’s upward ability” (2). For example, if a woman is able to enter a job traditionally for men, she will still not receive the same pay or experience the same increase in occupational ability. Gender typing plays a huge role in the workplace. It is the idea that women tend to hold jobs that are low paid with low status. Women are not highly considered in leadership positions because of social construction of gender. Society has given women the role of “caretakers” and sensitive individuals. Therefore, women are not depicted as authoritative figures, which is apparent with the absence of women in leadership roles in companies. Furthermore, sex segregation leads to occupations with either the emphasis of women in a certain job or men in a certain job. In 2009, occupations with the highest proportion of women included “secretary, child care worker, hair dresser, cashier, bookkeeper, etc.” (3). Male workers typically held job positions as construction workers, truck drivers, taxi drivers, etc. (3). Sex segregation represents inequality because the gender composition for these jobs depends on what ...
Throughout these silent scenarios of sexism in the classroom, more and more women today are being robbed of "knowledge and self-esteem." ( Sadker 234) These young women slowly lose their confidence to respond to the professors during class discussions. Only because they feel that they are not as intelligent as their male counterparts. Why must a woman answer a question with a phrase like: "This probably isn't right but" and "I'm not sure if this is what you want, but"? (Sadker 235)