For the Equal Rights Amendment

Shirley Chisholm’s speech, while brief, packs a punch. She utilizes powerful rhetorical strategies to convince her audience of the importance of supporting the Equal Rights Amendment. Chisholm draws on many concrete examples of sex discrimination to give her audience a clear picture of the problem at hand while also offering concrete ways the new law would improve the US economy and society. She addresses potential rebuttals of the ERA and disputes their claims, effectively reassuring anyone who may doubt or disagree with her stance. Finally, Shirley Chisholm ends her speech by expanding her argument to address greater issues of societal justice and Human Dignity, appealing to her fellow representatives’ morality and idealism. Together, these strategies work to present a clear defense of the Equal Rights Amendment and a compelling case to vote in support of it.

First, Chisholm lays out clear, concrete reasons why the Equal Rights Amendment is necessary and why it will improve women’s lives in the US for women. She lists example after example of legal discrimination on the basis of sex—in education, in the workplace, in the military, and in the home. In laying out these examples, Chisholm demonstrates the many ways that

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