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Writing Notes for a Persuasive Essay
My argument for this essay is that gender equality in the military is held back by
preexisting notions of gender roles. This topic is something that I experience every day
and has unfortunately held me back in some areas of my career. I have chosen history as
my major here at SNHU, and I think this topic will go hand in hand with what I study for
my degree. From the very beginnings of mankind, men and women have been treated
differently, and the power struggle between genders has shifted many times throughout. I
expect to gain a better understanding of how traditional gender roles have effected
modern gender assignments, and hope to carry this knowledge through the completion of
my degree. I don't know what field of work I would like to do after I complete my degree,
but I am passionate about equality and fairness and will hopefully someday work to make
a reality of them both.
The first key point to support my argument is the fact that women have not even
been legally allowed in the military until recently. This displays a belief that women did
not belong in war and were expected to stay home while men were the ones fighting for
our nation's freedom. My second key point is that women are presented as less capable
than men throughout history due to lack of opportunity. This is seen in history where
education was not seen as a valuable trait in potential wives, and the expectation of
women was to get married produce offspring, not to be noble war fighters. My third point
is that modern policies do not reflect that the military is completely equal in terms of
gender. This will support my main argument by providing some insight to the procedures
and policies that show blatant inequality in todays military.
My audience for this essay is my instructor, as well as current military members
who don't see equality as an issue. I think a few potential challenges I will face when it
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comes to focusing on my instructor as my audience will be creating the sense of
discriminatory culture that stands within the military today. I think it is hard to
understand the day to day life of the military unless you have lived it, and from my
knowledge of my instructor, she has never been in the military. Current military members
as an audience will create different challenges for me because they do have that
understanding of life in the military, so I will have to persuade them by showing them
that just because we have made leaps and bounds toward equality today, it still isn't
enough. I will have to use more of a factual approach and less of an emotional appeal
towards this audience because they may think that inequality is not in their day to day
work life, so therefore it does not exist.
My end goal is to display that, although, gender equality has come a long way in
our nation's history, it still has a long way to go as before we call it an equal military. I
hope to persuade those who believe it is equal differently, and to shed light on
inequalities across the military today with a well thought out discussion using multiple
different approaches towards the argument. I think this essay will need a mix of rhetorical
elements to be able to get the argument across in the way I intend to. Since I don't know
my audience I will have to establish credibility by giving my own personal experiences
with inequality, as well as showing what I have done to combat it. I will also need to
display my understanding that equality has also come a long way, so that I don't seem
ignorant to the fact that is completely different than it was a hundred years ago.
-“The Finest Kind of Lady”: Hegemonic Femininity in American Women’s Civil War
Narratives By Melissa J. Strong
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This piece takes a look at gender roles in the era of the Civil War and how women
maintained their traditional feminine roles at home, while still wanting to aide the war
effort in any way they could.
- The Modern American Military By David. M Kennedy
This text is focused on the military in the twenty-first century and the growing role of
women in combat today.
- Women in American military history, 1776-1918 By Stephen C. Small
This article shows the participation of women in almost every major conflict from
17761918 and can reinforce my argument by displaying where we have come from in
terms of equality.
-Gender and Language; 2017, 11 1, p121-p150, 30p by Joanna Pawelczyk
This section of text is multiple interviews of veterans, both male and female, that talk
about how gender can play a role in day to day operation of the military, and how
ideologies of masculinity can prevent women's participation.
-Undue Sacrifice: How Female Sexual Assault Victims Fight the Military While Fighting
in the Military By Russell Spivak
This article focuses on sexual assault on women in the military, and also takes a look at
how despite the enormous steps taken towards equality, the perception of women inhibits
a true realization of equality in the armed forces.
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Most resources I have found provide different looks at the history of women's roles in the
military. I have stated that I want to be clear on where gender roles have been, to
understand where they need to go, so I think learning more of the history will help me
develop a better argument. Many of the resources also discuss the overall effect that
gender plays during day to day operations, and how certain preexisting ideologies are
effecting progress towards equality. This is something I have discussed in my notes in
this assignment and I believe reading different perspectives on how those ideology. The
last resource is primarily focused on sexual assault, and although I don't want that to be
the focus of my essay, I think it's important to include in my argument due to the
relevance it has in my personal experience in the military.
I think integrating evidence as much as I can throughout my argument will be the most
beneficial. I believe this approach will be the best because I don't want the audience to
think that my essay is completely biased and opinion based due to personal experience. I
would like to put my own experiences into my essay in a way that it is effective, but not
over bearing. If I can use evidence from my resources as much as possible, but in a
tasteful way, then I feel like I'll be able to get my point across how I intend to. I would
especially like to open with a bold and borderline shocking piece of evidence because
that's how I usually get captured by a piece.
