The text is a political speech delivered
by Hillary Clinton to the 4th U.N. World Conference on Women Plenary
Session, on 5 September 1995, in Beijing, China. It embodies the conventions of
a political speech through its style and structure. The speech addresses
sensitive issues surrounding women’s rights. Clinton strives to inform her
target audience of the detrimental circumstances women live in, and the
inequality and discrimination women are subjected to worldwide. She weaves
in a multitude of literary devices to do so, and simultaneously call for action.
The success of Clinton’s speech is a result of her fruitful use of rhetorical
devices and techniques in order to heighten the importance of women’s rights
and solidify an understanding of feminism within the audience.
Clinton
employs stylistic features and language that ultimately fulfill her purpose and
hone the target audience’s attention. Clinton’s speech is
directed towards the United Nations council. This is a significant target
audience as the realm of her speech deals with human right’s affairs and
conveniently the U.N. is responsible for such matters. In addition, she effectively
targets an international and multicultural audience. This is evident as she
addresses global issues and asserts that this conference should be “the world’s
– call to action.” Clinton’s audience is also governments
and organizations as well as individual females. This is evident as she
encourages governments and organizations to allow women and men to be equal in
terms of treatment, salaries and so forth. This political speech has
multifarious purposes, all in which intertwine. The main purpose is to prompt
the world to take action for the meager number of human rights women possess.
She does this as she educates the audience regarding gender ambivalence and
dicrimination. She attempts to “empower women to take control over their own
destinies,” and “promote internationally recognized human rights.” She opined that gender inequality is often either ignored
or "silenced" and thus it goes unresolved. As a result she wishes to
change this silence and call for action.
An
imperative aspect of this speech that contributed to its success is the content
Clinton chose to include. Her overt motive is clear throughout the entire
speech. Clinton establishes that women play an imperative role in raising
children, providing their skills in the workplace and their contributions “as
mothers, wives, sisters, daughters, learners, workers, citizens, and leaders.”
However, the voices of these women go unheard and the struggles they face are unspoken
of. These struggles include violence, economic and social imbalance in society
between men and women. Women are unaccredited for their contributes. And she continues
by including the ramifications if their rights were violated. The consequences
include weaker family ties, psychological and physical detriments to women,
un-encouraged women who undermine their potential and so forth. If women were
“empowered” they would be able to contribute even more than they do and as a
result “nations will flourish.” The main gist of her oration is that “human
rights are women’s rights.” Clinton's earnest plea is to convince the audience
to make a change. She then suggests that the solution to this issue is to “come
together” and put forth all our efforts to resolve gender inequality. She
addresses that the human body becomes the most powerful entity when united. The structure of her speech employs a
problem-solution format to fully engage with the audience.
The primary
themes that are predominantly established throughout are family, equality and
hope. This is demonstrated through her lexis as she uses words such as
“family,” “equal,” “peaceful,” “prosperous” and so forth. These three themes
work in conjunction to one another and appeal to a diverse audience. The motif
of family is cunningly developed as the speech progresses. She highlights that
“families will flourish” given that “women are healthy and educated,” “free
from violence,” and “have the chance to work.” She uses symploce as she begins
her phrases with “if women” and end them with “families will flourish,” to
further enhance her message and create a reverberating image in the audience’s
mind. Clinton presents the audience with an irrefutable argument, as she is
addressing an issue that not only affects women but nations as a whole. Family
is a common ground for most individuals globally as it is an integral part of
one’s upbringing, thus is a concept is one the majority can relate to. This
coax’s the audience to take action with Clinton as she appeals to pathos and
moral beliefs. She continues by emphasizing that if families and communities
flourish, nations will as well. This allows her to fully grasp the audience’s
attention and allow them to recognize that if women’s rights dwindle, society
will not prosper. The theme in addition to this is feminism, which acts as a
political movement to establish political, social, personal and economic rights
for women.
The tone she choses to direct her speech in retains urgency
yet is encouraging. She begins her speech by expressing the magnitude of the
issue. Here she employs a tone that depicts urgency to provide aid to the women
“who are dying from diseases that should have been prevented or treated” and
those “denied the right to go to school.” As she establishes her argument she
creates the need to urgently help the situation through her lexicon and syntax.
However, as the text proceeds she begins to exclaim that it is possible to make
a change in the lives of women worldwide. She instills hope into the audience as
she uses logos and allusion to display that the world has progressed, and women
have been provided with human rights in other regions of the world. She uses a
didactic tone to instill hope into the audience by explaining that the world “recently
celebrated the 75th anniversary of Women’s Suffrage,” and “it took 150
years… for women to win the right to vote.” These rights should be omnipresent
worldwide, and by using such a tone she enhances the idea that with time and
dedication women will attain an equal status to men, and will achieve the
necessary human rights. The hopeful mood burgeons as she uses distinctio to
reveal “it was a bloodless war… without a shot fired.” Clinton interlaces an
encouraging tone to ultimately fulfill her purpose of mitigating the struggles
of women in our society. The message from this statement infers a confortable
environment and discards any concerns or ramifications that the audience may
have considered, in terms of the fight for women’s rights. Hope is an imperative theme as it is the
driving force to have a vision for a prosperous future. She concludes her speech by indicating that “the time (to
take action) is now,” which displays urgency. This is further displayed as she
uses anaphora to repeat phrases such as “we must” and “let us.” The use of a
tone that has a hint of urgency depicts the enormity of the issue, and the
demand to extrapolate a solution. In addition, the use of “we” and “us” creates
an atmosphere that demonstrates a sense of unity and serenity. This allows the
audience to be comfortable, and convinces them to take action collectively.
The
overall speech includes a myriad of rhetorical devices, presented in a
chronological structure, in order to fully adhere to her purpose and develop
the content she desires to bestow. These literary devices are effectively
weaved throughout the entirety of the speech. A salient device that is used to
highlight the turmoil is repetition in a variety of forms. Often times she
applies anaphora when utilizing pronouns, such as “let them,” “we,” “we must,”
“I have met” or “they are.” This is done to fully connect with their audience
at a personal level, as it is repeated a sense of safety is consistently
availed as she opens her statements. Clinton includes a
somber list of the many human rights violations that women and children face on
a day-to-day basis, which is perhaps the most evocative section of her speech.
Through this list she explains that gender discrimination is still a ubiquitous globally, and is emphasized through the use of anaphora. Each
statement in her elaborative list is begun by “It is a violation of human rights when…” She follows her
statements by addressing that “babies are denied food, or drowned, or
suffocated” because they are females. Here she vocalizes the prominence of
gender ambivalence and uses polysyndeton to emphasis the
plethora of contentious acts baby girls are subjected to. She is also able to use individual’s innate need to nurture in
order to allow the audience to sympathize with the issue. Clinton is able to
kindle with the audience’s emotions as she highlights the egregious violence
that act as a “violation of human rights.” The violence she refers to include
women being “sold into the
slavery of prostitution” without their will, they are burnt to death and raped
“as a tactic or prize of war.” Clinton continued
her reminiscent list of human rights violations that women still face today,
including the brutal practice of “genital mutilation.” The
use of anaphora prior to each violation is a constant reminder than such acts
are deplorable and inhumane, and thus a subliminal bias is formed in the
audiences mind. Clinton purposefully uses the idea of human rights, as human
rights are the basic privileges every human being must attain. It is convenient
that the speech was delivered at the U.N., as the audience would appeal to
maintaining international peace and security. If such matters are not resolved
security is lost. This further elaborates that “human rights are women’s rights
and women’s rights are human rights.” The use of chiasmus further elaborates
and instills her ideological standpoint.
Clinton establishes ethos as she exclaims
her credibility as she “participated in a World Health Organization forum” and
discussed “the health problems of women and girls.” And she will be attending
“the United Nations Development fund for Women.” This validates her
aforementioned argument. Her credit is further built as she uses pronouns to
show that she acts as a witness to see women whose voices go unheard. Clinton
mentions a superfluity of examples from personal experience and global issues
whereby women are in need of aid as they are discriminated against as a result
of inequality. She exclaims the magnitude of the issue when she says, “women
comprise of more than half the world’s population, 70% of the world’s poor, and
two thirds of those who are not taught to read and write.” This appeals to
logos. This statement proclaims that women are suffering as they are
statistically lacking more rights than men. She continues by demonstrating that
women have meager rights worldwide. The use of pathos, ethos and logos work in
conjunction to solidify a logical argument that appeals to one’s emotions and
displays credibility. With such trust is established. Pathos arouses interest
in the audience to take action and eradicate gender inequality, as they fear
the emotional consequences.
Another
literary device she uses to fully indulge in the audience’s attention is the
use of hypophora, when asks the rhetorical question of “Wasn’t it after all –
after the women’s conference in Nairobi ten years ago that the world focused
for the first time when the crisis of domestic violence?” Clinton engages with
the audience as she gets them thinking, and conveniently uses the theme of hope
to drive the rest of her speech. She also intertwines the rhetorical device of
expletive, and uses it again as she says “—and highly successful programs—“
which is seemingly used to again inculcate hope. The use of expletive allows
for a pause in her speech in order to allow the audience to understand the
successes, and the idea of success is hopeful. Asking the question arouses the curiosity of the audience
about the answer. In addition, as she asks a question she is creating an
intimate dialogue between herself and the viewer, and thus they will be more
comfortable with her and her message.
Throughout
Clinton’s speech she continuously refers to the idea of a voice. As she says,
“I want to speak for those women,” after she explains the malnutrition,
poverty, lack of sanitary, education and so forth. The idea of a voice is
mentioned several times again. Clinton “want(s) to speak up for mothers… for
older women… for women everywhere” who are undervalued even after their immense
efforts in their work place and home. She uses climax to enhance this idea and
bestow the breadth of gender inequality in terms of women being unable to speak
up for themselves as are not hegemonic in such a society. And again as she
exclaims “the history of women has been a history of silence. Even today, there
are those who are trying to silence our words. But the voices… must be heard
loudly and clearly.” She ends her statement using assonance to truly emphasize
the need for a voice. The idea of voices is discretely interlaced into her
dialogue, as she attempts to highlight that women deserve “the right to be
heard.” She expresses this idea that these women are disparaged to an extreme
point that they are unable to express their feelings. This goes with the idea
of freedom, which she also explains is a human right. She takes ownership and
feels the need to vocalize their struggles as they have been silenced. To be
silenced insinuates that they are demeaned to an extent whereby they no longer
take ownership for their wellbeing.
Clinton
closes her speech using pathos and scesis onomation as she explains “the
potential of the human family to create peaceful, prosperous world.” She
employs asyndeton and once again displays hope and used the motif of family to
unite the audience. Family ties unite the audience as families are connected
both biologically and socially. She furthers this as she explains “for our
children and our grandchildren.” Again this demonstrates hope when looking into
the future and utilizes the motif of family. The use of family and the need for
nurture allows the audience to empathize with the issue and have the urgency
for change. Her concluding statement utilizes a sententia as she says, “The
time is now.” This effectively closes her argument because she was able to connect
with the audience and build “a common ground.”
All in all,
Clinton’s speech strives to promote an egalitarian society. She is able to
capture an international audience’s attention through the use of her potent
rhetoric. Her purpose is fulfilled as she laces phrases that cause the audience
to sympathize with the mishaps happening to women around the world. Clinton
vocalizes the struggles of women by explaining the odious circumstances women
withstand. She does this by using the motif of family, among other themes, in
which she exclaims the losses families would have if their mothers were treated
in such a manner. This triggers an emotional response from the audience. A
cornucopia of literary devices, such are ethos, pathos, logos and anaphora, are
used to enhance this message and ultimately advocate a bright and hopeful
future where women are treated as equals. However, she remarks that this
success will only be achieved if the world comes together to do so.
