Rhetorical Analysis: The Confidence Gap

Women have come a long way throughout history from the right to vote to be able to work in the workplace. They have faced a lot of discrimination but have been able to fight through each situation, but yet there are disparities between men and women in the workplace from the pay gap to positions. But why are these disparities present? Katty Kay and Clarie Shipman, writers of the article The Confidence Gap, believe the answer is confidence. This article argues that the reason why women do not pursue higher positions is due to low confidence through a pathos appeal directed at the audience, an ethos appeal given by the credibility of the authors, and a logos appeal by a variety of statistics and studies.

The writers, Kay and Shipman, have a clear

When we look at the writers and the site of publication, we find it was published in The Atlantic, which is known for “the high quality of its literature—notably, serialized novels, including best-sellers—and its literary criticism have preserved the magazine’s reputation as a lively literary periodical with a moderate worldview” (“The Atlantic Monthly” 1). It targets “America’s most influential individuals who wish to be challenged, informed, and entertained” (“The Atlantic Mission Statement” 1). From this information, one can say that The Atlantic is a trustworthy source as it is highly reputable and examines content through multiple angles. In the article, it states that Claire Shipman is a reporter for the ABC News and Katty Kay is an anchor for BBC World News America. Both these women are very well known women in the society. Just by learning the credibility of authors, the reader is able to trust the information provided in the article. What strengthens the credibility even more is that within the article they discuss what they think about confidence. Katty describes how she wasn’t smart enough for an upper-level job in journalism and Claire describes how with her alpha male coworkers they had the right to talk more on television than she did. So both these women had their personal experience which shows the audience that the authors are knowledgeable on this topic. Even though

From examining the stories of influential women and the language used the audience receives an emotion of doubt and fear but in order to show that change can happen. Looking at the credibility of the authors and the site of publication the audience is able to trust the information being provided. Through the logos appeal, the audience is able to believe the argument presented with all the evidence provides from professors to companies. In the end, women should take away the idea that they should not doubt themselves and just go for the