Purchase Solution

a short speech by Shirley Chisholm

Not what you're looking for?

Ask Custom Question

Speech Analysis

In this assignment you are being asked to analyze a speech. There is a short speech by Shirley Chisholm included in this assignment (located after the questions below).

1.Recreate an outline for the speech. Include a thesis statement.

2.How did the speaker make the message relevant to the group as a whole? What words indicate an inclusive message? List three of these words.

3.What evidence does the speaker provide that she analyzed their audience? What beliefs, values, and attitudes of the audience are being addressed? What did the speaker do to get the audience involved in the topic (provide two examples)?

4.What did the speaker do to establish credibility? Give 2 examples.

5.Explain what the speaker said that she expected would make a difference in the lives of her audience

6.What kind of order did the speaker use: topical, chronological, spatial, problem/solution, causal? What three examples can you offer to support your conclusion about the order?

7.What kind of supporting materials did the speaker use? These include: examples, illustrations, stories and anecdotes, definitions, statistics, expert opinion, quotations, analogies, and testimony. Identify as many examples of different types of these as you can (minimum of five).

8.Mark at least four transitions the speaker used in the copy of the speech. Explain how one of these moves the audience from one topic to the next.

9.Identify and list examples of the speaker's use of the following:
· vividness of language,
· intensity of language, and
· metaphors.

SPEECH
Equal Rights For Women
by Shirley Chisholm
US House Representative from New York

Address To The United States House Of Representatives, Washington, DC: May 21, 1969

Mr.Speaker, when a young woman graduates from college and starts looking for a job, she is likely to have a frustrating and even demeaning experience ahead of her. If she walks into an office for an interview, the first question she will be asked is, "Do you type?''

There is a calculated system of prejudice that lies unspoken behind that question. Why is it acceptable for women to be secretaries, librarians, and teachers, but totally unacceptable for them to be managers, administrators, doctors, lawyers, and Members of Congress.

The unspoken assumption is that women are different. They do not have executive ability orderly minds, stability, leadership skills, and they are too emotional.

It has been observed before, that society for a long time, discriminated against another minority, the blacks, on the same basis - that they were different and inferior. The happy little homemaker and the contented "old darkey" on the plantation were both produced by prejudice.

As a black person, I am no stranger to race prejudice. But the truth is that in the political world I have been far oftener discriminated against because I am a woman than because I am black.

Prejudice against blacks is becoming unacceptable although it will take years to eliminate it. But it is doomed because, slowly, white America is beginning to admit that it exists. Prejudice against women is still acceptable. There is very little understanding yet of the immorality involved in double pay scales and the classification of most of the better jobs as "for men only."

More than half of the population of the United States is female. But women occupy only 2 percent of the managerial positions. They have not even reached the level of tokenism yet No women sit on the AFL-CIO council or Supreme Court There have been only two women who have held Cabinet rank, and at present there are none. Only two women now hold ambassadorial rank in the diplomatic corps. In Congress, we are down to one Senator and 10 Representatives.

Considering that there are about 3 1/2 million more women in the United States than men, this situation is outrageous.

It is true that part of the problem has been that women have not been aggressive in demanding their rights. This was also true of the black population for many years. They submitted to oppression and even cooperated with it. Women have done the same thing. But now there is an awareness of this situation particularly among the younger segment of the population.

As in the field of equal rights for blacks, Spanish-Americans, the Indians, and other groups, laws will not change such deep-seated problems overnight But they can be used to provide protection for those who are most abused, and to begin the process of evolutionary change by compelling the insensitive majority to reexamine it's unconscious attitudes.

It is for this reason that I wish to introduce today a proposal that has been before every Congress for the last 40 years and that sooner or later must become part of the basic law of the land -- the equal rights amendment.

Let me note and try to refute two of the commonest arguments that are offered against this amendment. One is that women are already protected under the law and do not need legislation. Existing laws are not adequate to secure equal rights for women. Sufficient proof of this is the concentration of women in lower paying, menial, unrewarding jobs and their incredible scarcity in the upper level jobs. If women are already equal, why is it such an event whenever one happens to be elected to Congress?

It is obvious that discrimination exists. Women do not have the opportunities that men do. And women that do not conform to the system, who try to break with the accepted patterns, are stigmatized as ''odd'' and "unfeminine." The fact is that a woman who aspires to be chairman of the board, or a Member of the House, does so for exactly the same reasons as any man. Basically, these are that she thinks she can do the job and she wants to try.

A second argument often heard against the equal rights amendment is that is would eliminate legislation that many States and the Federal Government have enacted giving special protection to women and that it would throw the marriage and divorce laws into chaos.

As for the marriage laws, they are due for a sweeping reform, and an excellent beginning would be to wipe the existing ones off the books. Regarding special protection for working women, I cannot understand why it should be needed. Women need no protection that men do not need. What we need are laws to protect working people, to guarantee them fair pay, safe working conditions, protection against sickness and layoffs, and provision for dignified, comfortable retirement. Men and women need these things equally. That one sex needs protection more than the other is a male supremacist myth as ridiculous and unworthy of respect as the white supremacist myths that society is trying to cure itself of at this time.

Purchase this Solution

Solution Summary

This solution clearly assesses a short speech by Shirley Chisholm in a detailed, user friendly manner.

Solution Preview

For the student,

Thank you for coming by Brainmass.Com for homework assistance. Since we're a website that does not write homework directly for students of any type whether academic or just someone who needs help in general, I can help you get started on this type of assignment without hassle by providing you with step-by-step guidelines so that you are able to complete this assignment on your own. You have to actually read through this speech which did not take me long to complete the reading process.

Include a thesis statement.
"The unspoken assumption is that women are different. They do not have executive ability orderly minds, stability, leadership skills, and they are too emotional." As an OTA, I feel that this is one clear sentence where you can draw a thesis statement from: you can write it in such a manner~"Women should not be discriminated against others such as men of their own age or racial group in the workforce because women can be just as confident as men especially when women applying to certain jobs have enough experience in the field." [You may feel that this type of a thesis statement is too long, but a thesis will work as long as it contains one side of the argument you are either going for or against a position from the topic which seems to be focusing on "Women in the Work Force" from this article.

2.How did the speaker make the message relevant to the group as a whole? What words indicate an inclusive message? List three of these words.

The unspoken assumption is that women are different. They do not have executive ability orderly minds, stability, leadership skills, and they are too emotional.

***It has been observed before, that society for a long time, discriminated against another minority, the blacks, on the same basis - that they were different and inferior. The happy little homemaker and the contented "old darkey" on the plantation were both produced by prejudice.***

The author seemed to make the message relevant to the group as a whole in terms of women in minority groups. The words used to indicate an inclusive message can be: society, ...

Purchase this Solution


Free BrainMass Quizzes
Literary Elements

Quiz yourself on basic literary elements! Understand important terms necessary for ELA!

How well do you know the plot of Pride and Prejudice?

This is a basic multiple-choice quiz. You will be given four choices for each question.

Chasing Lincoln’s Killer Quiz 2 (Chapter 2 & 3 Content with Vocabulary)

The following questions are taken from chapters two and three of the novel, Chasing Lincoln’s Killer. Read each question carefully and choose the correct answer.

Matching writers to their works

The quiz will list the name of a famous writer and you will be given a number of book, poem, short story, and play titles that you must match with the correct author.

Outsiders Chapter 1 Quiz

A quiz that checks the knowledge students have from the first chapter of the novel "The Outsiders" by SE Hinton