Analysis of Melinda Gates

Effective Analysis
Every year since March 8, 1911 a special day is celebrated for women all around the world known as, “International Women’s Day.” This day is not only important for women to reflect on what they have overcame economically, politically, and socially, but it also allows them to come together to continue to raise awareness and study the struggles still presented for women worldwide. Melinda Gates is not only a business women and philanthropist; she is married to one of the richest human beings on earth, Bill Gates. I did not choose this piece of rhetoric because of Melinda’s high status in society, but as a woman myself I find this piece of rhetoric as valuable for women worldwide. It is just as important today for women’s voices to continue to be heard and for them to be honored for their sacrifices, as it was ages ago. In the article written by Melinda Gates on CNN.com, Melinda reveals the challenges women still face and how we can make sure all women count by assembling important data to prove to world leaders that empowering women really does make a difference.
There are two major themes that are apparent in this article. The first theme is the impact of women’s empowerment. This involves investing time, data, and money to make sure that women and their children can thrive. The project created to help oversee and review this is called No Ceilings: The Full Participation Project. This was created when the Gates Foundation and Clinton Foundation joined together to conduct this worldwide evaluation. Just like Melinda Gates, Hillary Clinton is involved prominently in women’s empowerment. These two powerful forces rely on these investments to make a case to world leaders that the empowering woman is not just a good choice, but a smart choice. As Melinda states in the article, “healthier, more educated children today means a stronger workforce tomorrow.” By empowering women for a hopeful future, they can then give their children a brighter future, one they all can survive in.
The second and most prevailing theme is that data is the key tool for improving the lives of women and girls. Melinda refers to her and Bill as “data nerds,” and her approach to linking data points to women around the world represents big dreams for the future. Data to Melinda is powerful because with it, “we are able to see where women and girls are being left behind” as she states in her article. Acquiring data is vital in the fact that it covers demography, education, health, labor force and employment, and political participation of women worldwide. With data we are able to see the reality of the situation many women are facing by looking at the rates of maternal mortality, women's economic participation, and family preparation. Data is crucial in making International Women’s Day a celebratory day. Without it we couldn’t monitor progress and address and manage a plan to overcome more barriers for women that the data represents.
These themes come together to make up the requested action of Melinda’s article. The foremost requested action is to learn more about the women who are working hard to raise their voices. It is up to the audience to read over and learn from the data that the Gates and Clinton foundations provide us and decide how each one of us can help. She doesn’t want us to gain attention to women’s empowerment on just International Women’s Day, but everyday, so come every March 8th, we will have even more to celebrate.
Melinda Gates faces several advantages and disadvantages with her piece. These revolve around her reputation as a speaker and the audience’s attention to women’s rights. One advantage is that Melinda is lucky enough to be married to someone who has “changed the world twice”, as Fortune Magazine states (Bryne). Bill Gates has steered the personal computer revolution and now with Melinda by his side the duo are considered the world’s most generous philanthropists. Melinda and Bill have an estimated net worth of $66 billion according to FORBES, and “have signed the Giving Pledge, promising to give away the majority of their wealth in their lifetime, and have, through their foundation, granted more than $25 billion to their causes” (Casserly). Also, within their empire of Microsoft, they have donated more than $285 million in software to the United States and around the world to supply and sustain free public access to computers and the Internet (Microsoft). This can work as an advantage for Melinda as her name alone has gained worldwide renown, her relationships with other high-profile individuals such as Warren Buffett and the Clinton family, as well as her contributes to society that give her programs afforded attention by the audience. For instance, Hillary Clinton recently “launched a new partnership with ‘No Ceilings’ with the Gates Foundation…to measure and analyze the advancement of girls around the world” (Rucker). This headline and others similar to it were likely read by many members of her audience. Because Melinda routinely receives this kind of national exposure, she continually gains status in the eyes of her audience members. A third advantage, which is similar in nature to the above, is that women in the US today are continually striving for and attaining important positions, and many times are outspoken in their support of other women. This occurred recently with U.S Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen, who stated: “Making fuller use of the talents and efforts of women in the workplace has made us more productive and prosperous. I would hope that our nation continues to reap the benefits of greater participation by women in the economy and that we do everything that we can to foster that participation (Y.Mui). Statements like these would work as an advantage to Melinda in her piece.
The article encounters only a few barriers. The first and most prominent is the attitudes of an audience of male figures. According to Morales and McGeeney, “Women worldwide in 2011 continued to rate their lives similarly to men. Across 147 countries and areas, 24% of women rate their lives well enough to be considered ‘thriving’. Women are also as likely as men are to be ‘struggling’ (63%) and ‘suffering’ (13%)” (L.Morales & K.McGeeney). This will make it more difficult to persuade and challenge men’s attitudes and values on the issue. Another barrier revolves around the complex situation regarding foreign aid. “Foreign aid – or development assistance - is often regarded as being too much, or wasted on corrupt recipient governments despite any good intentions from donor countries” (Shah). This is a very sensitive issue to the American public. Many people see foreign aid as wasteful because there are always a litany of problems in the domestic area which could be helped with that money, or they do not trust that the money is being used efficiently or in good faith. On the other hand, some individuals believe the country should give much more foreign aid than it already does. This creates a very politically charged atmosphere, and the polarizing nature of the subject can turn her audience off on the subject, or, worse yet, turn her audience entirely against her cause.
Looking beyond the rhetorical barriers and advantages of Melinda’s article, one can then analyze the strategies she used in creating her piece. The first and most prominent strategy of Melinda’s article is her use of rational argument, specifically evidence-oriented. First off, she establishes authoritative evidence, which in turn builds her credibility from her experience and expertise within Microsoft, her leadership in the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and work with Secretary Hillary Clinton in “No Ceilings.” For Melinda, data and women’s empowerment are her “two favorite topics.” “Bill and I used a trove of data to drive our decision making at Microsoft, and we brought that mentality to our work at the foundation.” It is clear to reflect that Melinda has established great success within Microsoft, the Gates foundation, and No Ceilings due to her underlying knowledge of business. She knows that data is the key to showing World Leaders how important it is to keep investing in women. Melinda proved this idea when they brought data into the Indian state of Bihar. “The data showed that women were dying during childbirth at alarming rates and giving birth in hospitals at very low rates. In response, health officials decided to encourage women to give birth in hospitals and to improve the quality of care in delivery rooms.” It is crucial that data in these countries, like Bihar, is continued to be collected in order to monitor growth and adjust tactics if necessary to bring continued changes for women and girls.
Furthermore, not only does Melinda have expertise on what this data will bring, but her experience traveling all over the world to take on tough challenges like extreme poverty and poor health allows her to see firsthand how important empowering women is. When Melinda visited Tanzania, she gave examples of the women buying chickens and selling the eggs for extra money. “When I asked them what they'd use the money for, they all said: their children's education. Their investments in their children were a monument to their hope for the future.” Statistical data in the article demonstrated these investments. “Women spend 90 cents of every dollar they make on their children, therefore; a child in a household where the mother controls the budget is 20% more likely to survive and much more likely to thrive.”
Not only does Melinda build her argument with her experience and evidence, she also designed her article to encourage an emotional response. First Melinda appeals to the basic needs of life itself and social support. “Data showed that women were dying during childbirth at alarming rates. We should never lose sight of the fact that every data point represents a mother, a daughter, or a sister.” She also appeals to the values of equality and progress. Melinda uses the example of her foundation teaming up with the Clinton Foundation. “Together we will conduct a global review of the status of women and girls everywhere. Where they're thriving-and why. Where they're being held back-and why.” Alongside Melinda, Secretary Clinton values the global progress of women and girls. As Clinton stated, “"women's rights are human rights." Not only does the progress of women’s rights appeal to the history of International Women’s Day, but Melinda also applies the appeal to guilt with her audience by bringing awareness to women’s empowerment. She states, “On most days in most months, most women and girls aren't able to raise their voices. Because no one knows the challenges they face, they're forced to face them on their own.” All together these strategies remind our society of how important it is for us to come together not only to hear the voices of every women and girl, but also do what is essential in saving them and their children’s lives.
Melinda effectively continues her credibility throughout her argument by focusing on her use of supporting strategies such as: evidence and expertise, and appeals to needs, values, guilt, and history. The fact that she released this piece on an important day in history, International Women’s Day, makes the message on empowering women even stronger, the argument more persuasive, and the advantage of women’s rights more prevailing. I believe within Melinda’s argument that she overcomes the barrier relating to the attitudes of many male figures, however; not fully on the complexity of federal aide. Many men believe they are equally struggling and suffering, with contrasting evidence she is able to overcome this barrier in her rational argument proving that when women struggle and suffer their children in turn see the heartbreaking effects. This in turns helps persuade the male audience to think otherwise, because it resonates how important it is to invest in their women, who in turn invest in their children, for hope of a better future and progress as a society. The barrier of the complexity of federal aided is much harder to overcome, because she doesn’t back up the groundwork of how much money is actually needed to continue providing the data. However; even though she doesn’t explicitly state evidence about federal aide, she does have her trustworthy reputation, experience, and evidence of women’s lives being changed through investment in these foundations that in turn bring positive changes.
Most importantly, I believe this article was effective despite the barriers because of the way she profoundly draws on all these strategies to produce a strong emotional response of the lives being lost and the need for better care for many women and their children. Melinda states in her article, “As you read over the data, remember that the numbers you see tell the story of real women with real dreams.” By expanding women’s empowerment globally, we can all be hopeful that their voices are being be heard, needs be met, and we continue our devotion to further their overall progress in the 21st century.