Moises Orihuela

Eng 11. Period 2

Ms Alcaraz
2/21/18
Non- Fiction response
1. The main idea of this speech is that american women are entitled to an unpaid 12 week
leave from their jobs but men aren’t, and because of that women are completely
dependant on their husbands, they depend on them working and providing for them until
they get back to work.
2. I haven’t read any other texts like these in the past, but from what I know, after
pregnancy, you are still hurt and well its is true that you can’t move so making a full
recovery takes a long time.
3. The author’s purpose is to inform people about the struggles that come from an unpaid
leave from pregnancy, and to describe the struggles that come from that leave
4. The audience is the United Nations and Americans
a) The speech is given to a United Nations conference
b) The choice of audience affects the text in a very large way, the UN is most
nations around the world so the message will be spread
5. The most relevant details the author uses to argue are her experiences, her struggles
she faced as a child and as an adult, she lastly uses descriptions of what one goes
through if they do not go back to work.
6. The author uses mostly pathos and logos but she uses logos more
a) “The truth is, for too many people it doesn’t. One in four American women go back to
work two weeks after giving birth because they can’t afford to take any more time off
than that” (Hathaway).

b) “Equally disturbing, women who can afford to take the full 12 weeks often don’t
because it will mean incurring a “motherhood penalty”— meaning they will be
perceived as less dedicated to their job and will be passed over for promotions and other
career advancement” (Hathaway).

c) “In fact, a study in Sweden showed that every month fathers took paternity leave, the
mothers’ income increased by 6.7 per cent. That’s 6.7 per cent more economic freedom
for the whole family” (Hathaway).

7. Possible themes are

a) Paid parental leave is not about taking days off work; it is about creating freedom to
define roles, to choose how to invest time, and to establish new, positive cycles of
behavior.

b) Along with UN Women, I am issuing a call to action for countries, companies and
institutions globally to step-up and become champions for paid parental leave.
 c) Though it was created to make life easier for women, we now know it creates a
perception of women as being inconvenient to the workplace.

8. This texted helped me understand the struggles women go through from their jobs even when
they are not at work, also how women have maternity leave to make life easier but it doesn't.

9. If i had to change something from this article, id use more pathos because i understand what
women went through but it didn't seem as bad as it could be, or use more ethos, she is a mother
so she can talk more about her experiences with the problems