Intention

Hillary Clinton’s speech, “Women's Rights are Human Rights” explores the topics of discrimination against women and the violation of human and women’s rights. The topics are relevant to the circumstances in which the speech was delivered—the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women.

The speaker’s overall intention with the speech is to promote women’s rights and to send a warning signal with regards to human rights violations around the world, which mostly affect women: “Tragically, women are most often the ones whose human rights are violated.” (ll. 145-146)

Hillary Clinton achieves her intention step by step, using persuasive language to her advantage by relying on rhetorical devices like ethos, pathos, repetitions, and allusions.

Note that Clinton states her aims clearly throughout, often using phrases such as “we are here to find common ground” (l. 21), “I want to speak” (ll. 104, 109), and “It is time” (l. 152).

Firstly, she wants to gain the audience’s respect and demonstrate a shared understanding, by showing that women share the same experiences across the world:...