Confidence: A Different Tool to Break Through the Glass Ceiling? Women’s rights has almost always been a theme in the history of our society for the past few centuries, but today it is important in the professional sense. As a society we have been slowly but steadily making progress in gender equality in a variety of forms, but as one of the most progressive countries in the world, why are only 4% of the Fortune 500 CEOs women? In “The Confidence Gap”, Katty Kay and Claire Shipman examine the difference in confidence levels between men and women, and how this disparity can change. When ABC News’ Kay and BBC’s Shipman teamed together to write their book Womenomics, which explored positive changes that benefit women, they discovered a common
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Girls “leave school crammed full of interesting historical facts and elegant Spanish subjunctives” and then suddenly “slam into a work world that doesn’t reward them for perfect spelling and exquisite manners.” By utilizing a “cause-and-effect logical picture” while instilling imagery into the reader’s brain, Kay and Shipman further bolsters their logical argument by adding a sprinkle of emotional appeal. With this very unique approach to a logos appeal, Kay and Shipman bring the reader to a place where they think that they are using the rational side of their brain, but they are also being influenced by the underlying emotional …show more content…
This work is meant to empower them, giving them hope that by shifting their mindset to a more confident one, they can potentially shape their destiny towards a future with hope. However, Kay and Shipman are still able to intrigue their male audience in ways that cause them to think about the how the confidence gap affects a wife, sister, mother, or female friend. Kay and Shipman effectively reach out to their female audience by highlighting the feelings of self-doubt from professional women to evoke sympathy. They aren’t making their claim to professionals in the field of gender economics or feminist studies, yet the majority of their piece is composed of research studies; still, this is an effective use of rhetorical strategy that further increases their ability to convince their college-educated female audience. Kay and Shipman keep their appeal well-rounded by making sure that their argument also makes sense logically, as their target audience is keen to search for the reasoning behind any new hypothesis thrown to them. Would this piece be convincing enough to get people to start thinking about the gender inequality issue in a different way and instigate actual change if it became as popular as Lean In? The answer is most likely
Girls “leave school crammed full of interesting historical facts and elegant Spanish subjunctives” and then suddenly “slam into a work world that doesn’t reward them for perfect spelling and exquisite manners.” By utilizing a “cause-and-effect logical picture” while instilling imagery into the reader’s brain, Kay and Shipman further bolsters their logical argument by adding a sprinkle of emotional appeal. With this very unique approach to a logos appeal, Kay and Shipman bring the reader to a place where they think that they are using the rational side of their brain, but they are also being influenced by the underlying emotional …show more content…
This work is meant to empower them, giving them hope that by shifting their mindset to a more confident one, they can potentially shape their destiny towards a future with hope. However, Kay and Shipman are still able to intrigue their male audience in ways that cause them to think about the how the confidence gap affects a wife, sister, mother, or female friend. Kay and Shipman effectively reach out to their female audience by highlighting the feelings of self-doubt from professional women to evoke sympathy. They aren’t making their claim to professionals in the field of gender economics or feminist studies, yet the majority of their piece is composed of research studies; still, this is an effective use of rhetorical strategy that further increases their ability to convince their college-educated female audience. Kay and Shipman keep their appeal well-rounded by making sure that their argument also makes sense logically, as their target audience is keen to search for the reasoning behind any new hypothesis thrown to them. Would this piece be convincing enough to get people to start thinking about the gender inequality issue in a different way and instigate actual change if it became as popular as Lean In? The answer is most likely