Ruiqi Feng

Professor Henderson

CAS 137H

1st October 2018

Twenty-first-century feminism by Barack Obama

Feminism has been a controversial topic among various industries and nations; countless

arguments developed since women began fighting for their rights. At the time of the first wave of

feminism, women were influenced by the Enlightenment and then went through The Suffrage

Movement. The second wave of feminism occurred primarily in the United States around the

1960s and has now grown internationally. In order to honor the predecessors of feminism,

Barack Obama wrote this essay about what a proper feminist looks like in 2016, which fired up

the responses and debates about the content. In this essay, Obama uses himself as a real-world

example to show how feminists ought to behave while taking advantage of the nation’s political

climate, as well as utilizing American beliefs to support and relate the ideology of feminism to

readers.

In this essay, Obama exerts pathos to show the audience the importance of women

throughout his lifespan by narrating true stories and backgrounds of himself in order to arouse

emotions from readers. He tells the readers he was raised by a single mother who spent the

majority of her career empowering women in developing countries. He also writes about his

wife, Michelle, who like many other mothers, worries about the expectations and judgments of

how she would balance the demands of a busy career with raising a family. Obama's life

experiences teaches him the unique challenges that women face, for example, hardship in finding
a job, expectations from society and stereotypical gender roles, allowing him to understand what

kind of issues and problems that women struggle with, which shapes his own feminism and

stimulated his desire to protect females in his family. His own stories trigger pathos amongst his

readers which create emotional ties, allowing them to feel as though they have developed

personal relationships with him, and potentially realize their own connections to feminism. As a

father, he tends to notice even more gender stereotypes towards women, especially to little gils,

which have pervaded deeply into the culture. Obama calls both men and women to action to

eradicate this deeply-rooted inequality by not only using himself as an example, but also by

connecting his experiences to the common persons to further circulate his perspectives on

feminism.

Obama uses three specific commonplaces in his essay to further promote involvement in

the feminist movement. The first commonplace he exerts is gender equality, which is also the

main and most important theme that he tries to express. He vividly demonstrates to the audience

the unreasonable existence of gender stereotypes and discrimination. “We know that these

stereotypes affect how girls see themselves starting at a very young age, making them feel that if

they don’t look or act a certain way, they are somehow less worthy. In fact, gender stereotypes

affect all of us, regardless of our gender, gender identity, or sexual orientation” (Obama). This

specific quote from Obama’s article pointed out how exactly stereotypes ruin girls and

potentially parents mentally, and thus suggests the importance of gender equality to readers. The

second commonplace he presents is breaking through the limitations. He arouses the readers to

challenge the tradition of gender roles by emphasizing three examples of unacceptable gender

standards. These are the routine harassment of women, punishing women for their sexuality but
rewarding men for theirs, and congratulating men for changing a diaper while criticizing

daughters for speaking out and sons for shedding a tear. “It is absolutely men’s responsibility to

fight sexism too. And as spouses and partners and boyfriends, we need to work hard and be

deliberate about creating truly equal relationships” (Obama). In this quote, Obama directly

identifies the responsibility for all males as spouses, partners, and boyfriends, to fight against

sexism, not only for their beloved ladies, but also for themselves and the society they live in, as

he believes men should be the one to initiate the equal relation and take care of their significant

others. He states that the idea of challenging the tradition is not only a duty for women, but also

for men. The third commonplace is freedom; as a citizen and the forty-fourth president of the

United States of America, Obama knows that rights and freedoms are granted to all Americans

according to the first amendment, and he informs everyone that feminism is an act of freedom

claimed by the Constitution. “That’s what twenty-first-century feminism is about: the idea that

when everybody is equal, we are all more free” (Obama). He illustrates that in term of feminism,

people have rights to pursue their own freedoms and happiness because they are equal, which is

a phrase that almost every American can recite out loud. This article helps readers to relate the

issues in their lives, and is engaging not only because they are applicable and commonly happen,

but also because of the situation and time in which this essay was published.

Exploitation of Kairos of this article enhances the relatability and engagement to readers

in their lives. This essay was posted right when the 2016 election was entered, and it was a

historic moment because after two hundred and forty years of this nation’s founding, and almost

a century after women won the right to vote, it was the first time that a woman became the major

presidential nominee for America. It was a long journey to accomplish and finally, women had
gained their political power. It was a finished product of exemplifying how much women have

overcome and eventually restored political equality. Additionally, Obama published this essay at

the last year of his presidency, which convinces the audience of the essay’s reliability because he

is speaking from an experienced and professional perspective about the entire situation of

feminism. Four years of presidency broadened Obama’s horizons and opened up his mind

enormously, therefore, his words are valid and referential to most cases regarding gender

equality, which is also the ethos of the essay because of the credibility. The Kairos of this essay

enhances the ability of readers to recognize changes regarding the roles of women in society, and

better demonstrates the outcome that the feminism’s predecessors had imagined, and had put

effort into appealing to citizens to inherit this spirit.

Obama complies civic ethos, pathos, commonplaces, as well as Kairos to support

ideology of feminism and relate it to the readers in their daily lives. He expresses his respect and

admiration to all the females who are and were fighting for their rights by utilizing his own

stories to arouse emotions. Commonplaces are used to demonstrate the importance of gender

equality, and make his essay more applicable to readers, and help readers to better recognize the

issues that they did not notice. For instance, the Kairos of the essay further assist readers to

process the relatability of feminism to themselves because of the opportune moment, since

Hillary Clinton was the first woman nominated in a presidential election in the United States of

America. Additionally, Obama’s last year of the presidency makes his words credible, which is

also the ethos. He declares himself a feminist in public and embraces feminism without

judgments, and his behaviors encourages all the women who are still suffering from stereotypes

and sexism.
Words: 1205

Work Cited

Obama, Barack. “Exclusive: President Barack Obama Says, ‘This Is What a Feminist

Looks Like.’” Glamour, Glamour Magazine, www.glamour.com/story/glamour

exclusive-president-barack-obama-says-this-is-what-a-feminist-looks-like.

Victor, Daniel. “Obama Writes Feminist Essay in Glamour.” The New York Times, The

New York Times, 20 Jan. 2018, www.nytimes.com/2016/08/05/us/obama-writes

feminist-essay-in-glamour.html.