For many centuries women had to struggle to make a place for themselves in society. Some have become successful but many are still mistreated by their families as well as their society. On 5 September 1995, Hilary Clinton made a speech during the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, China to a mixed audience. The purpose of her speech was to encourage people to see that women contribute to the success of society and that any violation of a woman’s right should be regarded as a human rights violation. During the conference, “Hillary Rodham Clinton catalogued a devastating litany of abuse that has afflicted women around the world today and criticized China for seeking to limit free and open discussion of women's issues” (Tyler). Additionally, she suggests that the future of humanity would be better once girls are treated and love equally as boys.
Hilary Clinton stated the ethos of her speech which was that females were often killed at birth, those who survive birth are mistreated and often left without an education in many countries. Her claims are valid and supported by a lot of evidence. In countries such as China and India, female infanticide is rampant ("BBC - Ethics - Abortion: Female Infanticide"). The invention of the ultrasound has led to an increase of female foeticide, where parents elect to abort their female child even before she is born ("BBC - Ethics - Abortion: Selective Abortion"). In addition to killing female babies either while they are in the womb or early in life, some women who live past infanthood are mistreated by people in their family or community. The abuse can range from physical, mental, emotional, or sexual in nature. Furthermore, some parents or communities do not see the importance of educating their daughters.
The potential impact of Clinton’s speech is that it may inspire some countries or families to view females differently. “The problems that Clinton saw going on throughout the world ranged from the forced silence that oppressive governments laid on women to the forced prostitution that some women are placed into for monetary income” ("Analysis of Hillary Clinton Human Rights Speech For The United Nations - Beijing 1995"). By drawing attention to the problems that girls and women face on a daily basis around the world, Clinton may have encouraged people to look at their problems head on rather than continue the age-old traditions of mistreating females. As she points out the success some women have made of their lives such as becoming doctors or nurses, Clinton is showing people that women can be just as successful as males and in some instances, more successful than men. Clinton’s speech made use of the time constraints by going directly to the heart of the issue.
In her pathos, Mrs. Clinton’s speech goes straight to the point. In 1995, women were still suffering greatly. In some society like China, women lived in poverty. Some were forced to abort their daughters in favor of sons. In Africa, many women lack education or proper health care especially during childbirth. Since she made the speech during a conference on women, she probably assumed that her audience already knew about the suffering of women throughout the world. Still, Mrs. Clinton uses her audience emotions to get her point across. She does not add any unnecessary information. She begins by giving a positive image of the contribution women have made in every aspect of society. She follows that image with one of women coming together to communicate, mainly about their children and family. Mrs. Clinton does this to emphasize the fact that women are important to society due to their position as caretakers of their family as well as their ability to excel in the workforce. All of this information leads to the most important part of Hilary Clinton’s speech which is the need to educate women, to educate societies on the abuse women suffers, and to educate the world that women play an equal part in society. She was able to fit such a powerful speech within nineteen and a half minutes because she did not deviate from her primary purpose. By going from positive to the negative aspects of the lives of women, Mrs. Clinton was able to successfully draw in her audience.
The speech starts from the positive aspects of the lives of women to the negative before rounding off with a call to action. By starting off with the positive aspects of women, Mrs. Clinton is showing the world how far women have come and how successful they were able to become despite the fact that many women continue to suffer at the hands of their family or their societies (Healy). According to Sarah Carlson, “Not only does Clinton make reference to all the women in our own lives, but she talks about appalling things that women have had to put up with: rape, abortion, burning and honor killings” (Carlson). Mrs. Clinton's transition to the negative aspects of the lives of women shows her audience that there is still a lot of work to be done to teach the world that women should not be treated like second-class citizens or worse. Mrs. Clinton was able to make a call to action that people should see women’s rights and human rights are the same.
Hillary Clinton’s speech for the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, China had shone a light on the plight of women. She praises the success women have made so far. However, she points out there is a lot more work to do in order to stop the abuse women suffer around the world. She uses ethos, logos, and pathos throughout her speech to emphasize the need for improvement in women’s human rights.
Works Cited
"Analysis of Hillary Clinton Human Rights Speech For The United Nations - Beijing 1995." InfoBarrel. N.p., 19 Jan. 2011. Web. 6 July 2016.
"BBC - Ethics - Abortion: Female Infanticide." BBC - Home. N.p., 2014. Web. 6 July 2016.
"BBC - Ethics - Abortion: Selective Abortion." BBC - Home. N.p., 2014. Web. 6 July 2016.
Carlson, Sarah. "Women in the Workplace: Analysis of Hilary Clinton's : Women's Rights Are Human Rights." Women in the Workplace. N.p., 9 Apr. 2012. Web. 6 July 2016.
Healy, Patrick. "Clinton Vs. Obama, Take 2 in Iowa - The New York Times." The Caucus. N.p., 20 Nov. 2007. Web. 6 July 2016.
Tyler, Patrick E. "HILLARY CLINTON, IN CHINA, DETAILS ABUSE OF WOMEN - NYTimes.com." The New York Times - Breaking News, World News & Multimedia. N.p., 6 Sept. 1995. Web. 6 July 2016.
