Analysis Of Why Women Are Leaving The Tech Industry In Droves By Sue Gardner

In the article Why Women are Leaving the Tech Industry in Droves by Sue Gardner, published by the LA Times on December 5th 2014, Gardner attempts to explain to people in the Silicon Valley tech industry why the number of women in tech positions is dwindling, and why they should make an effort to get more women involved. By using both statistical and personal evidence to prove the lack of female representation in technology, and by heavily relying on ethical, emotional, and logical appeals, Gardner effectively emphasizes her opinion of the Silicon Valley tech industry as misogynistic.

Throughout her argument, Gardner relies on ethos to establish her credibility by citing her personal experience, strong association, and former ties with the technology

Initially, she compares Silicon Valley to an “eerie” version of the Mad Men era, when the only women around “were scheduling the meetings and bringing drinks to the boardrooms” (P2). Not many people enjoy the concept of being stuck in a rut of past social issues with their progress and reform inhibited, especially a period in which women were entirely subordinate, so Gardner uses the comparison to build up a sense of guilt or disgust towards the treatment of women in tech careers. In fact, nearly all instances of Gardner’s pathos are used to form a revolt towards sexism and misogyny in Silicon Valley. She uses negatively connotative terms like “embarrassing,” “ground down,” “morally repugnant,” and “terrible” to induce feelings of guilt in the reader. This is, however, an example of a special pleading logical fallacy because she labels her audience in the Silicon Valley as sexist in order to get them to change their views on women in technology. In the end, Gardner uses stories of modern technology companies demeaning or objectifying women in an attempt to make the reader feel disgusted by the way tech companies treat women. The last three paragraphs are emotionally charged and meant to strike the same emotions that the author feels in the reader, after employing logos to appeal to the reader’s reasoning