Hillary Clinton Women's Rights Are Human Rights Analysis

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

against women through her use of emotional and logical appeals. Clinton is somewhat successful with her speech, as presently in 2016 women and men still are not equal, but the gender discrimination definitely improved since the year of her speech.
Hillary Rodham Clinton, age 68, has always believed in gender equality.

Some people believe her values are “a result of having lived through the depression” (Harris 673). She has seen the worst and hopes to make things better for her people. As a child, Clinton was “earning merit badges in girl scouts and starring in the girls softball league” (Harris 674). She has always believed women were smart and strong. Earning badges and playing sports might not seem like much, but it taught a young Clinton that women can do anything they set their mind to. Clinton went off to college and met her husband Bill Clinton there. As the couple got older, Bill decided he wanted to run for president. Hillary “went to Indiana to coordinate the campaign” (Harris 678) for Bill. From the start to the end of Bill’s presidency, Hillary was “extremely active in government affairs” (Hurley 204). She “[emphasized] the need for a global feminist agenda” (Hurley 204-205). Even though Bill was the president, Hillary applied herself as if she were the president. She encouraged equality for genders. Her speech “Women’s Rights Are Human Rights” was given right in the middle of Bill’s presidency. She used her economic power to create awareness of the gender inequality in the

world.
Before 1995, women did not have many rights. The wage gap between men and women was large. In 1994, the year before Clinton gave her speech, women were making “72 cents” (U.S. Women’s Bureau) to a man’s dollar. The year of Clinton’s speech, 1995, women made “71.4 cents” (U.S. Women’s Bureau) to a man’s dollar. That year, women’s rights took a slight hit and the progress in wage inequality retracted. Then in 1996, after the speech, women were making “73.8 cents” (U.S. Women’s Bureau) to a man’s dollar. The speech created awareness and a whole 2.4 cents were added to a woman’s wage. Although it is not totally equal to a man’s dollar, it is a step in the right direction. Another seemingly positive thing is that “The percentage of female legislators worldwide...nearly doubled between the years 1975 and 1995” (Hurley 23). Although there was not an overwhelming number of women in government, women did get some jobs, and that helped to erase a bit of the gender inequality. In 1995, Clinton gave her speech to target certain people that did not approve of women in the government and show them just how helpful and resourceful women are. After 1995, the number of women with governement jobs increased, most likely with help from Clinton’s iconic speech. Women are “70% of the world’s poor, and two-thirds of those are not taught to read and write” (Clinton 2). The discrimination against women before 1995 was scarily cruel. No one cared that women were poor or uneducated. Women were also “denied the chance to go to school, or see a doctor, or own property” (Clinton 3) simply because they were women. Men, and even other women, discriminated against women for a long time and Clinton hoped to change that with her speech.
Hillary Clinton uses an emotional appeal to persuade her audience that women’s rights are human rights. Clinton points out that “women around the world are giving birth, raising children, cooking meals, washing clothes, cleaning houses, planting crops, working on assembly lines, running companies, and running countries” (Clinton 3) to try to get the people at the conference to relate to these women and notice how they would feel if they were in their shoes. Common household tasks and common jobs are the comparisons she uses so people can possibly empathize with these working women who are discriminated against. In the middle of her speech, Clinton powerfully proclaims that “it is no longer acceptable to discuss women’s rights as separate from human rights” (Clinton 4). Clinton puts all of her emotion in this line and the audience feels it. This line is the most emotional one in the speech, as it is her main point. Hillary tells the audience that “Babies are denied food or drowned...simply because they are girls” (Clinton 4) in parts of the world in order for them to see the horrors that little girls face. She also points out that “Women and girls are sold into the slavery of prostitution for human greed” (Clinton 4). Prostitution is so common among poor females that most people in the audience of Clinton’s speech probably know one of them personally. She uses this fact to make people sympathize with women who are forced into this practice and imagine if it was their daughter having to go through it. Other emotional appeals Hillary uses include how “women are...burned to death because their marriage dowries are deemed too small” (Clinton 4), how “women are raped in their own communities” (Clinton 4), and how “young girls practice...genital mutilation” (Clinton 4). Clinton uses the image of a burning woman to evoke a feeling of deep sadness towards women with no rights. She says that women are raped in their own communities because most people know someone who was personally raped. If they do not personally know someone, they have most likely heard of a rape in their community. Clinton closes out with the fact that women physically mutilate themselves so they are not seen as sex objects. That is the most terrifying thing Clinton addresses in this speech. Girls are so ashamed to be females, they force themselves to become masculine-like. This image of a young girl being forced to change her body to a more masculine type makes the audience of Clinton’s speech feel sympathy towards any girl that goes through genital mutilation. Clinton uses all of these images of women being degraded to evoke sympathy and allow her audience to connect emotionally to females who have no rights.
Clinton uses logic to show her audience how poor conditions are for women. Clinton states many facts that show just how unequal women are compared to men. She says that “two-thirds of [the women population] are not taught to read or write” (Clinton 2). This fact should persuade Clinton’s audience that all women need to be educated and not only one-third of women. Women are also being “banned from the ballot box” (Clinton 3) even though women gained the right to vote on August 18th, 1920. Even over thirty years after women got the right to vote, they are still discriminated against by their male counterparts. “They are being denied the right to go to school by their own fathers and brothers” (Clinton 3) simply because they are girls. Clinton uses facts to point out the gender inequality that the world faces to create awareness. She also points out that “most women around the world work both inside and outside the home, usually by necessity” (Clinton 3). She is saying that women work extremely hard, possibly even harder than men, yet they barely make any money simply because they are women. She is trying to show her audience how much women do for the world and they do not deserve the discrimination they receive. “Women are most often the ones whose human rights are violated” (Clinton 3), not men’s. Clinton uses this fact to show that the discrimination is mostly only towards women. This discrimination is a violation of human rights, not women’s rights. “Human rights are women’s rights” (Clinton 4) and vice versa. Women should have the same rights as men. Men have “human rights,” while women do not. Towards the end of the speech, Clinton starts listing the hardships that women go through so she can educate her audience and make them see what women go through daily. “Women and girls are sold into the slavery of prostitution” (Clinton 4) daily, and Clinton points this out to show that women are sold to entertain men. She hopes her audience will understand how uncivilized this selling of the female body is and stop it from happening. She says “it is a violation of human rights when…[women are] forced to have abortions” (Clinton 4). Women need to make their own decisions and Clinton uses the fact of men forcing women to have an abortion to make her argument. It is the woman’s body, so it is the woman’s choice. Hillary believes strongly in a woman speaking for herself and not having a man make decisions for her. Until gender discrimination in the world is resolved, “the potential of the human family to create a peaceful, prosperous world will not be realized” (Clinton 5). Until women and girls are valued more and are not denied food and are not overworked, “the potential of the human family to create a peaceful, prosperous world will not be realized” (Clinton 5). Until women are not subjected to violence in and out of their homes, “the potential for the human family to create a peaceful, prosperous world will not be realized” (Clinton 5). Clinton knows the only way to create equality is to give women rights. The world will never be equal until women and men become equals.
After 1995, women gained more rights and moved more towards equality. “Clinton reflects the successes of the women’s rights movement” (Hurley 205). Her speech had a huge impact on women and created a need for equality. She argues, however, that “if the movement is to complete its work, it must strive to eliminate wage discrimination, provide affordable child care and health care, end domestic violence, and improve education” (Hurley 205). In 2016, these things have not completely been rectified, but the world is working its way towards it. In 1997, two years after Clinton’s speech, women made “74.2 cents” to a man’s dollar. The wages of women steadily increased, and in 2014 “female full-time workers made...79 cents for every dollar earned by a man” (IWPR). There is a “gender wage gap of 21 percent” (IWPR), but that is less than it has ever been. It is predicted that women will reach an equal wage as that of men in “44 years - or [in] 2059” (IWPR). Women and men are not perfectly equal yet, but strong and powerful women, like Clinton, are helping to erase the gap between genders.
Hillary Clinton’s speech addressing women’s rights at the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women shows how passionate she is about feminism. She uses logical and emotional appeals to get her point across to her audience. That point is that there is no difference between women’s rights and human rights. Her factual evidence about and her emotional ties to the issue of inequality helps to create this powerful and inspiring speech. She successfully creates a smaller gap in gender inequality. Clinton’s main ideals and values can be found within her speech. She strongly believes that women should have basic human rights, like men. Clinton believes equality is the way to solve any problems in the world.