A Twist on being Feminist

In our history women have always been the prominent nurturers and care givers for children. Women are able to have enormous amounts of compassion towards others. This can be greatly seen in times of natural disasters when women help give food and clothing to those in need. Thinking back to childhood it is apparent that children who are hurt or sick will most likely go to their mothers for comfort. While men can also be great comforters, there is something in women’s nature that allows them to excel when it comes to nurturing. Melinda Gates, wife of Bill Gates and co-founder of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, realizes the incredible ability of women to give love and compassion to others. She also realizes that AIDS is becoming increasingly more widespread and prominent in our culture today; especially in India. Her article “AIDS and India” talks about the devastating effect AIDS will have and is already having on this country. She vividly describes the situation and how it can be changed. Gates uses many rhetorical devices to help gain the acceptance of the audience. She wants others to support her in her cause to educate those in India so that AIDS does not continue to spread all over the country. Melinda Gates directs her argument specifically toward women by using information most important and prominent to females to better the chances of making a difference.

In her article, Melinda Gates uses the word “women” twelve times; she never uses the word “men”. Gates draws upon past experiences women have had to get an emotional appeal. According to Gates one of the three most import priorities for India is “the need to empower women” (Gates 187). This can really strike a nerve when the Women’s Rights Movement is brought up. Many of the women in our country understand what it is like to feel suppressed and looked over. This statement draws on the same emotions that those advocating women’s suffrage also relied on. Women do not want to ever feel like second-class citizens; nor do women want other females to feel that way.

By using the story of an actual prostitute in India, Gates is appealing to women’s very nature, that of compassion. Melinda Gates comments that she will “never forget a sex worker named Gita” (Gates 188). According to Gates this woman really showed her the importance of women’s empowerment. This story has a similar effect as the horrific story of everything Anne Frank encountered in the concentration camps during the holocaust. What do stories like these create in women? Genuine compassion. By using Gita as a literal example Gates is offering a way for women to be able to feel more sympathy for those affected by AIDS. This story puts a name and a face to the problems in India with AIDS. Women feel more compassion for someone they feel they know. The world has learned that when women really care about something there will be changes made.

Every woman enjoys a good story. At family and friend get-togethers women can be seen huddled in groups talking about their lives and learning from each other. Who better to appreciate a personal experience than women? Gates is sure to make the point several times over that she personally went to India and saw the sex workers and the truck drivers. On her “trip to Calcutta” she learned many different aspects of the situation there that she is so very willing to share with readers (Gates 187). Once women hear that this is a personal account of the problems in India, their ears and eyes perk up a bit more and then pay more attention. Women are more apt to believe someone who has witnessed all of these things in India than someone who simply read about it somewhere. By sharing her personal experiences in India Gates builds her credibility. She is able to further convince women of the importance of helping stop AIDS in India because she gives specific examples of how small changes can make a great difference.

Relying on emotional appeal alone would not create a wise argument. Gates relies on other appeals to try to convince women to support her cause. Readers are shocked when they read that “70 percent of Indian women have never even heard of AIDS” (emphasis added) (Gates 188). This not only causes an emotional response in women; it also causes a logical response. A percentage that large is a very effective way to convince women that there is definitely a problem in India. This statistic puts the situation in India into perspective for those who Melinda Gates is targeting. This logical appeal really inspires women to try to make a difference because they have a way to measure the potential success in India. Gates uses repetition and this shock effect as she introduces her next point that Gita and other sex workers have increased “condom use from near zero to 70 percent” (Gates 188). By using this percentage number twice within two sentences readers really get the message that women in the United States and in India can make a huge difference in the AIDS battle.

Only women have the ability to carry and bear children into this world. This ability gives women a deep love for and connection with children. Gates uses this love and compassion toward children to her advantage in her article. In this article about AIDS and how to stop it in India, Gates randomly begins talking about all the poor children all around the world. This paragraph in her paper talks little about AIDS and how to prevent it. Gates instead draws on the compassion of women by painting a picture of all the children who have diseases which could be “prevented with low-cost interventions” (Gates 189). Even though this paragraph has little to do with AIDS, it still has a large effect on women who read it. Based upon the knowledge people have about these different diseases, they are able to create vivid images of these poor, sick children. Intense emotions come up and are connected with the entire article even though they were in a direct response to a side note in the paper. With an emotional connection that strong women are more apt to be willing to make a difference.

At the very end of her article Gates relies on the audience’s sense of responsibility to make her point. According to her every single person can make a difference. Before times of public education, women were responsible for educating their children. Also, women are the primary ones who cook a meal for a family in need or perform another simple service. Gates uses specific examples of how to help out and says that someone can “educate your friends and family” and “volunteer” (Gates 190). These suggestions are specifically focused on women and their responsibilities as mothers and friends.

Gates’ final message is that with help, “women…really shall overcome” (Gates 190). This is a strong appeal to women’s emotions. Compassion drives women to want to help improve the world and the lives of those in it. Leaving the readers with this final message invokes a spirit of hope and responsibility. This is a call to action for all the women in the Seattle area who were able to read this article. Women who read this article will feel hopeful and inspired that if they do their part, great changes can occur in India and the world.

Gates successfully directs her article toward women with enough emotional appeals to draw them into her cause. Any woman who does not read this article critically can be sure that she will begin to feel compassion for the people in India. She will want to make a difference; potentially by donating money to the foundation Melinda and Bill Gates have set up. Dedicated and determined women can make very drastic changes in their world and Gates really tried to appeal to women as much as possible because she knows this. Women are driven by their emotions much more than men are; this article is great proof of that.