Persuasive Speech: Feminism

        I.            Introduction

1. Attention getter: Commercial
2. Thesis Statement: As a society, sexism is an accepted part of our everyday lives. This is a huge problem that is being completely overlooked.
3. Preview Statement: Today I want to talk about how sexism still exists in society, how it hurts everyone-male and female, and ultimately-why everyone should be a feminist.

Transition statement: Definition of feminism from Susan Faludi’s book Backlash…The main reason you should be a feminist is because lack of gender equality harms women AND men as well as society as whole (Faludi, 1991).

     II.            Problem:

Sexism is a present issue in our society and negatively affects men, women, and society as a whole.

1. Main Point 1: According to a study published in the Journal of Social issues in 2002 entitled “Everyday Sexism” college women on average experience one to two impactful sexist incidents per week (Swim et al, 2002). These incidents can range from hearing passing jokes made about women to being victims of intentional sexual objectification. These incidents affected women’s psychological well-being by decreasing their comfort, increasing their feelings of anger and depression, and decreasing their self-esteem.
2. Point 2: The weakness associated with “playing like a girl” or “acting like a girl” forces men to fit a constricting gender stereotype and, according to James M. O’Neil’s article “College Men’s Fear of Femininity”, it can lead to a wide array of emotional, social, and health problems including power issues and homophobia (O’Neil, 1986).
3. Point 3: But sexism doesn’t just negatively impact individuals; it impacts the success of our society as a whole. According to the US Department of Labor website, in 2010, women made 80% of the salary of their EQUALLY EDUCATED and employed male counterparts (DL, 2010).
4. Point 4: Sexism isn’t taken seriously in American culture.

  III.            Solution: Become a feminist

1. Understand feminism: First and most importantly, being a feminist isn’t a bad thing, and that the definitions you hear most often are the wrong ones. Explain to people that it means that you see everyone as equal, not EITHER sex better than the other. Hold yourself and others accountable for the things they say and generalizations they make about EITHER sex. Understand that the ideas that beget sexism are deeply ingrained and will be hard to change.
2. Political solution: You can talk to your political representatives about making the workplace more equal for everyone, as legislation has already been an effective means of creating more gender equality. For example, according to com, in 2009, President Obama signed into law the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which help to ensure equal pay for women (Ledbetter, 2009).
3. Educational Solution: According to Clemson’s College of Science and Engineering webpage, we have a club called WISE, dedicated to advancing women in science and engineering (CCoSE, 2012). This intentional emphasis on creating more equality in education is important in raising the next generation, if we stop pigeon-holing young students to be good at certain things they will begin to stop seeing differences in terms of gender and start seeing any differences in terms of the individual.

   IV.            Conclusion:

1. Quick Summary (restate thesis): Right now, sexism is something we gloss over in our everyday lives. Sexism is a problem for men, women, and our entire society. This is the status quo, but we can do better.
2. Ending note: And lastly, we can think about our mothers, our grandmothers, our girlfriends, and our daughters. Our generation can create a more equal world for all of them, and a more equal earth benefits all her inhabitants.
   

   Works Cited

   Faludi,Susan, (1991). Definitions of Feminism. In Backlash. Retrieved from    http://www.vanderbilt.edu/AnS/english/piepmeier/feminism.htm

   O’Neil, James M, & Helms, Barbara (1986). Gender-role conflict scale: College men’s fear of femininity. Sex            Roles, 14. Retrieved from http://www.springerlink.com/content/b743343w41n627n8/?MUD=MP

   Swim, J. K., Hyers, L. L., Cohen, L. L. and Ferguson, M. J. (2001), Everyday Sexism: Evidence for Its    Incidence, Nature, and Psychological Impact From Three Daily Diary Studies. Journal of Social Issues, 57: 31–53. Retrieved from http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/

   The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. (2011). Retrieved from http://www.lillyledbetter.com/

   United States Bureau of Labor. (2008). Statistics on Women Workers [Data file]. Retrieved from     http://www.bls.gov/bls/cpswomendata.htm

   Women in Science and Engineering. (2007). Retrieved from http://www.clemson.edu/ces/wise/