Rhetorical Analysis of Women Discrimination
Introduction
Over the past decades, western thinking has viewed male and female as two different physical species. This has not changed and still exists in contemporary society. What has only changed is the justification for gender inequality. As most of us are familiar, men and women are constantly being compared in work organizations, sports and personal situations based on physical and biological aspects. These kinds of differences have caused the society to distinct gender into social bodies based on the culture that results in groupings hence causing division. In this paper, Michele Gelfand and Virginia Choi passionately look into gender discrimination in workplaces that have transformed the physiological dissimilarities from biological to sociopolitical. This essay will explore Gelfand and Virginia’s persuasive language as the present research evidence, statistical evaluations, and their expert opinion on gender issues and how society continues to struggle with gender inequality.
Summary of the Article
Michele Gelfand in his article “Women Don’t Just Face a Pay Gap at Work. They’re Also Punished Far More Than Men” (Michele Gelfand and Virginia Choi 2019) points out about gender discrimination to women and minorities in the workplace. The author applies ethos by presenting statistical facts about gender discrimination among women at work. For instance, they give an example of Betty Dukes, who was a victim of gender discrimination at his organization. The following quote demonstrates it “Her male employees evaded punishment for minor offences like returning late from a work break”. By telling the author that he was involved in the Betty Duke case makes them appear more credible and believable.
Additionally, he transitions into logic by giving an example of a research study that was conducted by Dr. Hanna Riley, using 159 participants to prove how severe gender discrimination is at workplaces.” By changing their names, some descriptions suggested the offender was either female or male and black or white” The quote confirms that the result was positive. Besides, the authors transition into using words like “tighter worlds”, “looser worlds” to appeal to the reader’s emotion. The authors use the words to illustrate the kind of struggle that women and minorities, in an organization where they have less power go through. I agree with Michele and Virginia about gender discrimination in workplaces because gender inequality has been a major social issue for the past 100 years.
Rhetoric Response
Gelfand as a professor at the University of Maryland and Virginia as a doctoral student in psychology, they are much aware that them using an example of a study that they were directly involved in, it will make the reader believe them. For instance, “it was Betty Dukes, a Walmart greeter who led a high-profile Supreme Court case in 2011 on this very matter, who led us to conduct our study” (Michelle Gelfand and Virginia Choi 2019). The authors use this example to appeal for authority and credibility from the readers. The author appeals for credibility by giving evidence that they are directly involved to make the reader aware that they have a piece of knowledge and experience. of what they are addressing.
Beyond credible and making the audience believe them, Michele and Choi are also obsessive about their subject of gender discrimination and they wish that their audience would share their enthusiasm. They use words such as “looser world”, “tighter world” to appeal to the emotions and feelings of the reader (Michele and Virginia 2019) He intends to lure the reader into the feeling that gender discrimination for women and minorities in the workplace has made them go through a hard struggle. Therefore, the use of these word choices is meant to share the author’s feelings with the readers to trigger either a negative or positive feeling depending on the reader. Hence, the author’s feelings about this matter ate triggered by the experience of Betty Duke’s story of gender discrimination, they can relate more to the issue. This is why they want to share the same feelings with the readers.
Furthermore, to be able to win any argument, one needs to balance credibility and emotion using logic reasoning. Michele and Virginia in the article they can organize their arguments and are also able to incorporate statistical figures to prove their logic reasoning. In the article, the authors give an example of a research study conducted by Dr. Hanna Bowels using participants to prove how critical this matter is. The result obtained confirms that the research study was valid “By changing their names, some descriptions suggested the offender was either female or male and black or white” (Michele and Virginia 2019). This example is meant to persuade and convince the reader that the argument being discussed is strong and solid. This makes the reader understand more and be more interested in the topic.
Conclusion
The article was well written since the author successfully applied pathos, ethos and logos to appeal to the readers. The use of statistical figures and examples was enough to convince the readers that the authors are aware of the topic and have gathered enough sources to prove their logic. For instance, the author uses an example of Betty Duke’s case to prove to the audience that they are directly involved with the matter and they have strong evidence that this is a pressing matter. An example of a study conducted by Dr. Hannah using 159 participants proves that the authors have incorporated other researches to prove their argument. Hence word choices like “tighter world” and “looser world” have been used to appeal to the reader’s emotions. The idea of using the words is because the authors want to share their feelings with the audience. To sum up, the article was well written except that the evidence provided was not enough. Though statistical figure that has been used makes sense to the reader because it is an issue that is facing the society in the current world.
Works Cited
Gelfand Michele, Choi Virginia. “Women Don’t Just Face a Pay Gap at Work. They’re Also Punished Far More Than Men” African Union; Times Magazine, April 2019 https://time.com/5562441/equal-pay-wage-punishment-gap/