Women's Rights are Human Rights

This study guide will help you analyze the speech “Women's Rights are Human Rights” by Hillary Rodham Clinton. We will show you examples of elements in the text that will be relevant for your analysis. In these notes, we will focus on topic, speaker, audience, language, modes of persuasion, circumstances, and intention.

Presentation of the speech

Title: “Women's Rights are Human Rights”
Speaker: Hillary Rodham Clinton
Where: United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women, Beijing
When: 5th of September, 1995

Hillary Rodham Clinton (b. 1947) is an American politician. She was the First Lady of the US from 1993 t0 2001, while her husband Bill Clinton served as President. She began her own political career in 2000, when she was elected Senator. She later served as US Secretary of State from 2009 to 2013. She ran for President in 2016 as the Democratic nominee, against Republican nominee Donald Trump, who won the election.

Excerpt

You can read a short excerpt from the study guide below:

Allusion

Allusions are references to people, events, media, and literature that the speaker connects with her speech.

First of all, the phrase “Women’s rights are human rights” — which became the title of the speech - is an allusion to the feminist movement, which used the phrase in the 1980s. However, Clinton’s speech made the phrase famous and more widely used.

Hillary Clinton alludes to the present conference, other UN meetings, and to Gertrude Mongella, who was the UN Secretary General for the Fourth World Conference on Women. By making these reference, the speaker reminds the audience of the authority of the United Nations, but also of her involvement with the organization’s activities.