Kylee Killian
Mrs. Hendryx
ENGL 0003.412
17 October 2013
Finding a Political Solution to a Moral Dilemma “The most pressing global problems simply won’t be solved without the participation of women.” Verveer opens up the article with this quote as her main claim. Throughout the article she focuses on the need for women to be involved with political issues. Verveer uses many examples and sources to back her claim that promoting the status of women is needed to accomplish global peace and security. The author includes how Barack Obama’s administration has tried to involve women in foreign affairs. She also states that Hilary Clinton’s goal is to advance the status of women all around the world to be unified in all aspects of U.S. foreign policy. Verveer claims the World Economic Forum found an improved economic competitiveness in countries where women and men relish equal rights than those where women have restricted access to education, medical care, or politics. The author claims that the United States past diplomacy and development efforts were directed in a method that was gender neutral centered. She also states that women could be a recovery tool in the climb out of recession. Veerveer explains that women still lack access to capital, credit, and training. Throughout this article she uses claims to addresses the lack of equality, respect, and justice that women endure. In “Why Women Are a Foreign Policy Issue,” Melanne Verveer uses ethical, emotional, and logical appeal to support her claim that the most pressing global problems will not be solved without women’s participation. The author applies her credibility through the use of ethical appeal to prove her correlation with the subject and to build trust in the information. In her introduction she announces herself as the U.S. State Department’s ambassador at large for global women’s issues. This is a successful way to build credibility; it addresses her correlation with the topic. Verveer uses the president’s administration efforts to include women in foreign affairs as an example. This is an effective tool used to persuade because the president is a strongly credible source, however; some may disagree and disregard the whole meaning of the article because they do not like our president or agree with his decisions, meaning it could also take away her credibility to some. The author uses fact from the Human Security Report Project to prove her claim it is not just about the economy, but also about global security. This example is a credible source and applies to more than one important issue it would solve which positively influences. ‘Goldman Sachs researchers found that closing the gender gap between male and female employment would be a powerful engine for global growth, even in the United States and the Eurozone, where it could boost GPD by billions of dollars... (pg.2)” This quote supports her claim that women are a tool to climb out of the recession and is successful in convincing partly due to the trustworthiness of the source. The author includes the goal of Hilary Clinton to fully assimilate women all around the world in every aspect of U.S. foreign policy. Using the Secretary of State as a source is a good way to build credibility as well as persuade. Overall, Verveer is successful in providing intrinsic and extrinsic forms of ethical appeal.
The author uses many examples of emotional appeal to support her claim that women are not granted the equality they should be and are excluded in many areas. “Women endure much of the residual violence and poverty caused by armed conflicts, and they bear much of the burden of rebuilding families and communities (pg. 2).” Verveer’s tone is appropriate for creating a sympathetic feel. One of her sources states that “Egypt last year, women marched on the front lines of the protests often leading their fathers, brothers, and husbands into Tahrir Squares (pg. 3).” The strong imagery creates an emotional response and addresses other countries stance. “ Women were also left out of demobilization programs for ex-combatants because the definition of “combatant” did not consider the thousands of women who had been kidnapped and forced to work as military cooks, messengers, or sex slaves (pg. 3).” The strong imagery introduces many different emotions and successfully produces an emotional appeal. “For generations, the United States too often viewed the world’s women as victims of poverty and illiteracy, of violence and seemingly unbreakable cultural traditions (pg. 1).” Associating women with these negative circumstances shapes a sympathetic response. Verveer includes a plea from an Afghan woman: “Please do not see us as victims, but look to us as the leaders we are (pg. 1).” This quote intrigues emotion by the language applied to persuade; this convinces the audience of Verveer’s stance. The author is successful in utilizing ethical appeal throughout the article to prove her argument. Verveer mainly uses logical appeal throughout her article to support her claims that women could solve many issues if given the chance. “As a growing body of research shows, the world’s most pressing economic and political problems simply cannot be solved without the participation of women (pg. 1).” This example proves to be successful in persuading because it correlates with her claims, but the validity of the source was not presented. The author includes the study from World Economic Forum that countries where women and men enjoy equal rights are far more economically competitive than those where the gender gap has left women and girls with limited or no access to medical care, education, elected office, and the marketplace (pg.2).” The logic is credible and serves as an educational example. According to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization, if women farmers had the same rights men farmers had, the number of undernourished people in the world would be reduced anywhere from one hundred million to a hundred and fifty million. This logic was successful due to the credibility, the example, and the information. The Human Security Report Project claimed that in the 1990’s, nearly half of all peace agreements failed because they are conducted of male military and political leaders (pg. 2). The fact does not provide evidence that women could change that, but it effectively insinuates the error in all male political groups. “Less than 8 percent of the hundreds of peace treaties signed in the last 20 years were negotiated by delegations that included women, and according to the World Economic Forum, women hold less than 20 percent of all national decision-making positions (pg. 2).” This information was successful in educating the severity in the need for equality. Verveer efficiently used facts and statistics to include logical appeal. Throughout the article, Verveer use many examples of ethical, emotional, and logical appeal. The use of ethical appeal was successful in providing vital information needed to gain credibility. Logical appeal provided evidence to support her claims through the use of facts and statistics. Verveer fails to verify where some of the information came from. The author presents many observations, statistics, and opinions, but fails to provide any solution to the issue. Verveer addresses women farmers are not given the same advantages male farmers are getting, and proves statistics showing a positive result, but fails to provide what efforts need to me made to help. She has such a strong claim throughout the article, but is unable to contribute methods from herself or her sources. She addresses Clinton’s efforts in advocating women is foreign policy, but fails to provide ways to obtain the goal. The article needs a more balanced set of techniques. Without the stability of techniques, it seems as though she is throwing out a bunch of facts without having any relation to the subject or an emotional feel. For example she states the past U.S. diplomacy and development issues were directed in a style that was gender neutral focused. There is no example following this statement, as well no clarification on what importance the fact had. If the article remained credible throughout, it would have been a successful tool in providing people with knowledge of injustice women are enduring. If she would have provided more opinion in areas for a solution, rather than in areas of research, it would be a respectable utensil for people to take action against the injustice, but there is no information provided on how to do so. Although this is a logic based article that lacked important structures, she effectively utilized ethical appeal and emotional appeal. Verveer remains constant in what she stands for and her sources successfully supported her bias. Her career marks her as a very reliable source and shows the connection between the author and the subject. The sub claims coordinated with the main claim which was valuable in creating a well-organized essay. Verveer’s beliefs, values, and principles, are appropriate for the audience. Her writing skills, correct use of punctuation, and grammar build her credibility. She provided strong imagery, dramatic pieces, and strong personal identification in her use of emotional appeal. Although Verveer never proves a solution to why women are need to solve the most pressing global problems, she successfully used emotional appeal, logical appeal, and ethical appeal to support her claim throughout the essay.