Doing It for the Girls Commentary

‘Doing It For The Girls’ is a multi-modal, promotional article from a women’s magazine, and is mainly aimed at working-class women or women looking for a career path. It features the young engineer Katie Fish and informs the reader of the increasing number of young women working in the engineering sector, specifically in nuclear power. As shown by the bold “Promotion” in the picture, the purpose of this article is to promote nuclear energy and challenge the stereotype of women taking up engineering as a career path, and in doing so dispelling some of the qualms of nuclear energy being dangerous. It does this by using stylistic devices, a range of linguistic techniques, and a relaxed tone.

The structure of this article helps challenge the stereotypes of nuclear technology by making its purpose more apparent to the reader.
The use of graphology in the large font of “Doing It For The Girls” draws the readers’ attention to the title, and together with the ambiguity of “It” (part of language) creates an incentive for the reader to continue reading and find out what the “It” refers to.
The use of bright pink colors in both the photographs and the font of certain pieces of the text further challenges the male stereotype and makes the article more attractive to a female readership.
The use of paralinguistic techniques in the pictures show the image the article wants to set across as that of Kate. The way she dresses, which is fashionable, and relaxed but respectable, creates an image of a young ambitious individual, who is not only focused on work, but also has other aspects in her life. The surroundings contribute to this factor, as she is in a modern building, with metal and glass walls, to show that the job she is doing is successful, which is further brought forth by the notepad and pen she has with her, showing commitment to her work. Also, the background which is mostly made up of green plants subtly brings the reader back to nuclear energy, as it hints that