To be the first woman elected to congress is definitely something to be proud of, especially in the 1970’s. Shirley Anita S. Hill Chisholm in her speech, “For the Equal Rights Amendment”, emphasizes, in her persuasive and passionate tone, about how inhuman it is that equality for men and women has still not been established. Equal Rights on American soil has been a problem that dates back to the start of slavery. Throughout the course of American history many different groups of people have been striving for equality. Chisholm’s purpose throughout the course of this speech is to gain support for the passing of the Equal Rights Amendment in order for society to obtain full gender equality. Chisholm annunciates this speech in her passionate and persuasive tone in order to convey the …show more content…
As she draws broad conclusions about the need for gender equality, she reminds the people of America that, “it is not too late to complete the work [our Founding Fathers] left undone,” and that the people of America, “today…should start to,” add to this document and make changes. Chisholm uses the allusion of The Constitution to unite the people of America because they all believe in the words of The Constitution. This supports the Equal Rights Amendment because an amendment is simply an addition to The Constitution. As Chisholm keeps The Constitution still fresh in the minds of the audience, she relates it to the present by establishing that, “our founding fathers did not assure [equality of opportunity] to their daughters, as they tried to do for their sons”. This proclaims that equality for women is not a current issue, but an everlasting issue that needs to be resolved now. In doing this, she provokes an epiphany amongst the audience that now is the time to do what is right; in this case that is to support this amendment in the hopes of future gender