Gender Inequality

    Gender inequality has been around so long it is rooted into our history. Women in the United States finally took a stand against it and started the first wave Women's Right Movement between the years of 1848 and 1920. There were many important factors in this movement and many people who were crucial to making a change. One of these individuals was Susan B. Anthony. Alongside Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Anthony formed the National Women Suffrage Association in May of 1869, based in New York City. The organization’s main goal was to achieve voting rights for women. Anthony herself made many speeches for the cause; being a teacher for 15 years, she was very educated and knew how to write exceptionally well. One of her most famous suffrage speeches was delivered in June 1873, while Anthony was under indictment for “the alleged crime of having voted at the last Presidential election, without having a lawful right to vote.” Anthony used her words in this instance, to prove that what she did was not a crime and that it was unconstitutional to consider her actions criminal. In her defense, Anthony makes strong appeals to logos, pathos, and ethos, which is why I believe this speech should be included in the Rhetoric course library.

National Women's Suffrage Association.(1913) Internet: Wikipedia 

    Anthony begins her speech by explaining why she is under indictment. Her crime was voting unlawfully due to the fact that she was a woman. She makes the argument that to be incarcerated for this is unconstitutional. Providing the background that she does in the beginning of her speech adds to her ethos. Anthony states “I stand before you to-night, under indictment for the alleged crime of having voted at the last Presidential election, without having a lawful right to vote.” As a famous speech maker and writer she is already considered credible, and her fighting for such an important cause makes her morally likable. Anthony actually practiced what she preached, and fought for justice by fighting against unjust, sexist laws. She was someone who fought for the basic rights of everyone.

    Furthermore, Anthony offers rationale for her cause by quoting directly from the Constitution, which states in the preamble: "We, the people of the United states...". Anthony focuses on this plural pronoun that clearly includes us all explains how “we” means that whether male or female, the people who make the Union are citizens including, her and all other American females. It shows how the Constitution should apply to women in this country as well. Anthony goes to make the point that women weren't specifically excluded from the laws. She quotes the Constitution again, referring specifically to a section that makes special mention of all those tho whom the laws do not apply. Those excluded are individuals who have been or may be convicted of bribery, larceny, or any infamous act. Anthony's argument is that, nowhere in that list of exclusions does it state "women", which shows that women are full citizens who should be able to excerside their right to vote. Anthony defends herself using a logical, text-based argument.

    Anthony's tone in her speech is demanding; she fearlessly does not back down in her demand that she and all women of America are given their basic rights and allowed to vote. At the end of her speech Anthony proclaims "we propose to fight our battle for the ballot...persistently through to complete triumph, when all United States citizens shall be recognized as equals before the law." This statement and her strength in defending herself and women’s rights is really powerful, because it shows that she, alongside many others, will not stand down and will continue to fight until they get what is rightfully theirs. As a fighter for women’s rights, her words likely inspired her peers and gave them hope, I imagine that when she read this last line the audience felt all sorts of emotions, from sadness to joy, which appeals to pathos. She gave so many emotional examples throughout the piece as well as multiple anecdotes, such as her talk with Senator Sumner, where she asked him for his help in protecting women in their right to vote. Anthony really showed how women are strong and deserve to be treated as such.

    Throughout the speech Anthony employs multiple rhetorical modes, including exemplification and process analysis. Anthony aims to prove the unconstitutionality of denying women the right to vote. She quotes Senator Sumner in her analysis of diction in the Constitution, as he had also helped protect African Americans in their right to vote and was now helping Anthony do the same for women. The Senator had stated that if you deny women the rights given by the Constitution just because it is written with masculine pronouns then you must also "exempt women from taxation...and from penalties for the violation of laws". This is a phenomenal point and proves that you can't make the argument that the Constitution only applies to men just because of the use of masculine pronouns. Anthony also uses process analysis, her speech itself is a step taken to reach the outcome: the right for women vote. Moreover, achieving the right to vote will bring them a step closer to ending women's suffrage. She shows that everything is just one step after another in a long process. Her political activism and her speech, along with others, are the steps being taken to be allowed to vote, which in turn is a step to reaching gender equality.

    Gender inequality is still an issue today, but if it weren't for women like Susan B. Anthony we might not have come as far as we have. People question whether gender equality will ever be attainable. There are many articles on the issue, for example “Gender Equality” in the New York Times, where different people discuss their views on whether or not equality is a possibility one day. One of the women stated "I am always baffled as to why these concepts could ever be contentious." referring to gender equality and feminism. This shows how the issue still isn't revolved and is believed by people to just cause arguments. People still don't know whether or not this issue will ever be resolved. But the progress that women like Anthony have made gives us hope. The Rhetoric library needs this speech in order to show others what a good piece of writing looks like and to remind us that gender equality is an ongoing struggle.

A New Beginning

    In our first unit of Design and Engineering we researched and designed new tools. The tool my partner and I had was a tiller. We found our tool while on a field experience at Home Depot, where we also learned what it is used for. A tiller is a tool designed to loosen soil and provide it with more air. When designing a better version of the tool, we had to take into consideration how to make it usable by different types of people, such as elders or people with difficulty preforming certain tasks. Doing this shows empathy, which is the ability to understand and share the feelings of others. I'm proud that I was able to design such a tool to help others that aren't always taken into consideration.

AG & TC New Tiller (2014)

    The purpose of this assignment is to see how we would recreate a tool that gives people problems nowadays. Our users are most specifically elders but can be used by people of all ages, and what makes them unique is that they would be able to use this tool no matter what height or size they are.

    As mentioned earlier our class went to Home Depot to learn about different tools. Experts there were very helpful. We also conducted our own interviews, mine being with my mother who has gardened for years. With all this new information I learned a lot. Some of the most important things I learned were that: certain tools are flimsy and won’t work properly, for example they will loosen and fall off the handle; the handle type is important, because certain materials will hurt your hands; and the weight is important, because if it's too heavy you might not be able to use it as well as you should be able to, and it will be more difficult to use. One of the quotes from my interview that really stuck with me was: “The shovel has a hard handle and it’s heavy which makes it difficult to use.”

   Aside from going to Hope Depot and conducting our interviews, we each had to do more research on our specific tool. Three important things I learned from this research were:
1) There are also electric versions of our tool.
2) There are also smaller hand versions of our tool.
3) The tools vary a lot in sizes and prices.

    Our new tool is a longer, sharper, and spikier hand tiller. With the new adjustable length of the hand tiller it won't cause back problems for taller people or shorter people. There would be a button or switch on the side to adjust it to the size that best fits you. The parts to this new hand tiller are: the wheel as a new handle, the adjustable length for different height varieties, and spikier tines (the outer ones being slanted). The new handle as a wheel helps get a better grip and keeps your hand secure while turning the handle. A wheel is easier to use than just a straight bar, because a circle is easier to turn; if the handle were just a straight bar you would have to stretch out your arms to grab the further side while twisting. The two inner tines are sharper in order to enter the soil more easily, and keep the tiller more in place. The outer tines are slanted with horizontal spikes and the bottom, which help the tiller cut through the soil. Other tillers don't have the horizontal spike added to the tines, which would make it more difficult to cut through the soil because the tines are vertical but the tiller is turning horizontally. Our improved tines solve that problem. However, since there are now spikes going to the side, the tiller can only be turned one way, which will be explained on the label. Furthermore, our tool is made completely out of stainless steel, aside from the foam covering the handle, which makes it easy to wash and doesn't result in rust.

AG & TC Vectors (2014)

    Three ways our tool is better than the competition are:
1) Our handle will be circular so it will be easier to turn.
2) There will be spiked ends on the side of the pokers at the bottom of the tiller, to make it cut through the soil more easily.
3) The middle part will extend so you can choose the length so it's customized to each person’s height.

    Our tool uses the wedge concept because to get deeper in the soil/dirt we had to add a slant into the outer spikes, which lets our tool cut through more dirt and creates more air pockets for the garden. Wedges focus all their weight into one point, and since you will turn the tool the way the spikes go, the weight of the tool will all go to the points of the spikes which will require you to use less force.

    Two things we took into consideration when redesigning our tool were:
1) What would make it easier for old people, or just everyone in general, to turn the tiller, so we turned the handle into a circle.
2) People’s height differences, so we made the tiller extendable (you can make it longer and shorter).

    The steps to use our tool are shown in the following pictures:

AG & TC Tiller Steps 1-4 (2014)

AG & TC Tiller Steps 5-6 (2014)