Julia Gillard Misogynist

Analyzing a Feminist Rhetorical Response to a Misogynist

As a very left wing politician, Julia Gillard does not hold back when addressing major and controversial topics. Her speeches have highlighted movements and injustices, shedding light to problems occurring in her home continent, worldwide. One of Gillard’s most renowned speeches, the Misogyny Speech is a great example of her aggressive manner in fighting for justice. She uses words to fight for change, allowing diction to be her catalyst for a movement in society. Julia Gillard effectively illustrates her message to her audience through successful use of available means while responding to the proposed problem in a fitting manner. As a result of her appropriate rhetorical advance,

Gillard’s Misogyny Speech is filled with copious examples of these appeals, but most importantly, she heartily creates credibility for herself as a public speaker by using strong examples of ethos throughout her speech. Usually messages from public figures of high authority are more likely to be heard by the audience. Julia Gillard is an example of political authority, being a former Australian prime minister and head of Australia’s Labor Party. Gillard’s authority is an example of formal authority, and in result not only allows her voice to be heard across the continent. In addition, when speaking about such a controversial topic like feminism, listening to injustices from the oppressed group increases credibility. In comparison, if a white man speaks upon the issues women face, it would feel a tad less “real” because they simply do not have personal accounts of this mistreatment. In addition, the prominent use of direct quotes from Tony Abott’s speeches increases her credibility. Using direct quotes to strengthen an argument shows the audience that these are factual, real life accounts of statements from someone. These quotes are not altered, so they really illuminate Abott’s true colors. When Gillard brings up quotes from Abott that state, “What the housewives need to

One of these constraints were the societal ideals that Gillard had to write around. At the time of the speech, Australia still was filled with patriarchal ideology. This continent still had a huge wage gap as well as a huge gender education gap. This posed problems in Gillard’s movement. Middle aged and older citizens of Australia had conservative values, since they were raised in such a time. In order to work around these constraints, Gillard collect direct quotes and events, ultimately sending her message to crowds who don’t one hundred percent agree with