Rhetorical Analysis: Basic Human Rights For Women

Basic Human Rights for Women First Lady Hillary Clinton stated “Human rights are women’s rights and women’s rights are human rights” on September 5th, 1995, at the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, China. She spoke of the “devastating litany of abuse that has afflicted women around the world” while also criticizing “China for seeking to limit free and open discussion of women’s issues” (Tyler). Clinton made it clear that it was unacceptable for women’s rights to be considered separate from human rights. China’s Administration had suppressed public criticism of human rights abuses and forced female sterilization, abortion, and female infanticide. While the audience consisted of Chinese delegates chosen by the Communist
Party, ordinary citizens were restricted from seeing or hearing Clinton’s speech, as it was blacked out on radio and television. Clinton still had a powerful impact on her audience and women all over the world who appreciated her for giving them a voice.
Throughout her speech, Clinton spoke with an authoritative but empathetic tone to empower women and convince others to work towards creating a better future for the next female generations. She encouraged her audience to advocate for women’s rights and emphasized the importance of women to maintain stability in their families as a means to persuade them to transform women’s treatment. As a result, Clinton was able to attract attention to women who struggled with economic, political, and social inequality in their societies by using personal anecdotes to establish credibility with her audience and anaphoras to accentuate certain statements, which led to an emotional and logical appeal. Clinton successfully conveyed her views in her landmark call for justice and was able to progress women in society.
For the duration of time Clinton spent as the First Lady of the United States, she traveled the world to gain knowledge regarding challenges women faced. With the factual, historical events that Clinton shares she attempts to create a foundation of credibility so that her audience will believe her and take her suggestions seriously. As a woman, she is able to connect with her audience through personal encounters of inequity to give a voice to women whose concerns go unheard. As she uses “we” it lets the audience know of her own struggles because modern day society does not value the work done by any women. The time had come for everyone to work together so women would be treated with respect and children of the opposite sex could be treated equally. Despite the infancy of the women’s rights movement, there are some who dispute if it is needed. These critics claim that such discourse is unnecessary because human rights include women as human beings and protect them. To oppose them, Clinton speaks up for people who could not, specifically women who are denied or are limited in their lives. It is imperative that representatives in every domain of society must work together to implement reconstruction of existing rights so that it includes and protects women. “Only such an approach will develop, expand, and transform the content and meaning of human rights” to the point that it “will reflect women’s realities and include women’s diverse perspectives” (Truyol). By sharing her personal anecdotes, Clinton supports the claim that women everywhere, endure discrimination and urges the reconceptualization of women’s rights based on the concerns of individuals who have experienced a plethora of gender-based issues.
Hillary Clinton speaks on women, children, poverty, education, health, and economic and political participation.
She makes it clear that human rights are women’s rights and women’s rights are human rights by emphasizing it with detailed examples to intrigue the audience and lead to emotional appeal because she referred to the appalling treatment of women. Clinton divulges information about how “It is a violation of human rights when babies are denied food, or drowned, or suffocated, or their spines broken, simply because they are born girls”. She then persists with how many women and girls are subjected to: “violence; female genital mutilation; bride-burning; girl-killing; rape; forced abortion; forced sterilization and the usual litany of abuses that are, regrettably, all too common and all too well known” (Truyol). In her speech, she recreates the framework for human rights to ensure that women’s rights become a reality. With her plentiful experience, Clinton’s speech emphasizes the fact that women do not get to enjoy the same opportunities as men in all societies. In addition to gaining credibility, Hillary Clinton strategically used anaphora to direct more attention to certain portions. Special attention paid to these violations of human rights enlightens people around the world of the severity of female oppression while also empowering her audience to fight for
equality.
Hillary Clinton had a plan when she went to Beijing against the wishes of others, she wanted to eradicate discrimination against women and establish that women deserved equality.
Women’s rights were violated on several occasions and Clinton, as an advocate, prioritized women’s human rights since society did not. She identified women’s inferior status and oppression as not merely a problem of inequality but also a means of perpetuating discrimination. By utilizing anecdotes and anaphora, Clinton was able to influence her audience to alleviate women’s daily struggles. The impact of this speech is evident in the fact that women are involved in making changes to domestic violence, reproductive freedom, and other
issues.