Rhetorical Analysis: The National Organization For Women

Ngoc Bao Do (Chloe)

Instructor: Nicholas Sheffield

UCCP1102.533

February 10th, 2016

Rhetorical Analysis

Primary Source: “The National Organization for Women – 1966”

The National Organization for Women’s 1966 Statement of Purpose was written by Betty Friedan, whose published book “The Feminist Mystique” in 1963 have made a big impact on American women at that time. This source is effective in using the rhetorical strategies such as ethos, pathos, and logos to convince the public to take action to help women can be treated more equally and can take part in any aspects of society, especially their privileges and responsibilities should be fair and equal in compare with men.

The author, Betty Friedan, was born on February 4th, 1921 in Peoria,

Illinois and passed away in February 4th, 2006. She was an American writer, activist, and feminist. In 1963, she public her book “The Feminist Mystique” which encouraged the second wave of American women’s liberation in the 20th century. In 1966, the National Organization for Women (NOW) was co-founded by Friedan, and she was also elected as the first president of it. Friedan is regarded as an intellectual and influenced author in the United States. She published six books and her autobiography, “Life so Far”, was published in 2000. She also worked on many other related issues such as lesbian politics, abortion choice, pornography, and war. Friedan died on February 4, 2006, her 85th birthday because of congestive heart failure at her home in Washington, D.C.
The source was publish in 1960s, which was a period when “hundreds of thousands of ordinary Americans gave new life to the nation's democratic ideals. African Americans used sit-ins, freedom rides, and protest marches to fight segregation, poverty, and unemployment. Feminists demanded equal job opportunities and an end to sexual discrimination. Mexican Americans protested discrimination in voting, education, and employment. Native Americans demanded that the government recognize their land claims and the right of tribes to govern themselves. Environmentalists demanded legislation to control the amount of pollution released into the environment.” (Overview of the 1960s, Digital History, 2016)
In her article, Friedan, as the constitutor and representative of NOW (The National Organization of Women), first dedicates the purpose of the organization as a new movement for the equality to American women as a part of human rights and organize to give them chances to be involved in the mainstream of political, economic, social life and many other fields in the USA. She agrees that taking care of children and being a housewives doing house chores in a long time are some big obstacles for women to join the outdoor activities. Therefore, some of the breakthroughs in human development was the technology, which can be the assistance for women in house chores. Friedan continues by discussing the statistics of working women in the USA throughout the 1950’s and 60’ as the evidences for the way women are treated at that time. Moreover, no voice came out to protect women from those dangers because of the fear of being called “feminist”. As a result, NOW began to give a speech for them by rejecting all the obsolete prejudice that women responsibilities are only for marriage and motherhood, which will make it impossible for women to be involved in society. Finally, she makes some recommendations for new innovations such as “a national network of child-care centers” and “national programs” to train for women choosing their full-time job as children caring.
Throughout her piece, it can be easily seen that Friedan is a credible speaker. She is the one who to encourage women “to voice their grievances and claims their rights” and rejected the old prejudice that women only should stay at home for their marriage and children caring, which are the necessary and important things for women benefits. Furthermore, based on her early life, she was the one to win the scholarship prize for her outstanding academic performance in her first year. In her second years, she had the numerous poems for campus publication. In 1941, she was editor-in-chief of the college newspaper. Also, “she graduated summa cum laude in 1942 with a major in psychology” (Wikipedia). Moreover, the publication in 1963 of her book “The Feminine Mystique” did make a huge influence on the “public reawakening of feminist consciousness”. Then definitely, the ethos and her credibility are strongly appealed.
Besides her ethos appeal, Friedan also uses the effective pathos.

The emotional appeals that she makes in the source is her effort to look for the happiness for the women, she has the steely voice in fighting for equality for women, to show her true enthusiasm. The most remarkable examples can be taken from the piece is the phrases “We believe”, “We reject”, “We do not accept” she uses in her paper. They can totally show her intense, her strength, and her enthusiasm. Some of them can be taken out here such as: “We believe that women can achieve such equality only by accepting to the full the challenges and responsibilities they share with all other people in our society, as part of the decision-making mainstream of American political, economic and social life”, “We believe that this nation has a capacity at least as great as other nations, to innovate new social institutions which will enable women to enjoy the true equality of opportunity and responsibility in society, without conflict with their responsibilities as mothers and homemakers”, “We do not accept the traditional assumption that a woman has to choose between marriage and motherhood, on the one hand, and serious participation in industry or the professions on the other”, “Above all, we reject the assumption that these problems are the unique responsibility of each individual woman, rather than a basic social dilemma which society must solve”, “We believe that a true partnership between the sexes demands a different concept of marriage, an equitable sharing of the responsibilities of home and children and of the economic burdens of their support”, and “We believe that proper recognition should be given to the economic and social value of homemaking and

child-care”.
Lastly, along with ethos and pathos, Friedan also successfully appeal the logos. The argument is well organized and logical based on the general information from the first sentences to the specific points in the next paragraphs. The statistics are also included clearly and specifically, which are the statistics of working women in the USA throughout the 1950’s and 60’ by the percentage for each situation of women roles in society. For example, 46.4% of 18-65 women worked outdoor, but mainly for routine clerical, sales, factory job, or household workers, cleaning women,… up to 75%; 2/3 Negro women worked in lowest paid service career; full-time women workers only earn 60% in compare with what men earn, 89% earn under $5000 a year (1964), and women lose ground in the professional or important fields. Can be seen that women represent 51% of US population, their actual position in society seem not to be respected and treated well as men.
In conclusion, Betty Friedan does make an effective and successful history document that enables people to recognize the problems American women had to face in 1960s. It was really a huge impact document in the aim of bringing women "into the mainstream of American society now fully equal partnership with men".

WORK CITED
Digital History. Overview of the 1960s. Retrieved from: http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/era.cfm?eraID=17&smtid=1
Foner, Eric.hh Voice of Freedom. New York: Norton & Company, 2005. Print.
Wikipedia. Betty Friedan. 2016. Retrieved from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betty_Friedan