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Researched Article
Researched Article
In Johns's (2019) writing, she fully depicts what a discourse community is and what you
should look for when finding a discourse community to fit you. Johns (2019) describes a
discourse community as a group of people in which share common beliefs and communicate
similarly. There have been various studies done on women's disadvantages in the American
workforce; some focus on how language affects the way people perceive women's abilities, and
others discover why men are more likely to get a job over a female. Downs (2019) describes a
discourse community as one of the main principles in a discourse community which relates to
Johns piece by describing the effects of communication on a discourse community. Reilly (2016)
describes how the interpretations of capabilities in the workforce are favored toward males. In
this article that Reilly (2016) wrote, this evaluation supports the fact that women are viewed as
unfit for specific jobs compared to men based on stereotypes and perceptions of gender roles in
society.
Bada and Genc (2018), Lan and Jingxia (2019), Molla (2016), and Tarravo (2014) all
talked about how there is a contributing factor of sexism in language, which develops our
perceptions of gender discrimination. Bada and Genc's (2018) article evaluates how sexism and
gender discrimination are used significantly in our everyday language. The authors conclude in
the report that although everyone's language has a significant outreach on the way women are
perceived, women need to speak more positively of themselves to develop any change. Two
authors who believed with the theory that women are the start of the difference in the language
of sexism were Lan and Jingxia (2019). Lan and Jingxia (2019) describe how, through
status compared to males. The authors refer to the use of sexism in language and how it causes
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people to see women as having a lower rank in our society. In their study, they discovered how
Lan and Jingxia (2019) study of the effects of sexism in language can be related to
Molla's (2016) article, which talks about who is causing sexism in language to exist. Molla
(2016) focuses on the belief that schools and families are the primary influencers of children's
views on gender roles in society. It further describes that attitudes and behaviors enforced by our
peers are one of the leading causes of the opinion of gender roles in society. To furthermore
evaluate the influence schools have on gender roles, Tarravo (2014) thoroughly evaluates how
women are represented in the English textbook and discover that through language and
communication of the information provided in the book, that women are seen as more of the
household caretakers and men are seen as the breadwinners. The author proves that these
stereotypes highlighted in the teachings affect the way children perceive the proper roles of a
male and female. The author concluded that language reflects sexism, and the behaviors and
attitudes of children are all understood by the language being taught to them. All of these articles
describe how sexism in language has influenced the perception of women to be less than a male
in the American workforce. People interpret gender roles based on how society communicates
focuses on one of the main elements of my research question, which is the effect of
communication. This article gives me background on what rhetoric is and how to use writing and
research question because it evaluates the different aspects of rhetoric and language and could
help me figure out how women face disadvantages through language and communication in the
American workforce.
My final journal article by Carey (2002) focuses on the struggles that Spanish speaking
immigrants who are women have in American society. It furthermore describes the advantages of
this program for these women, which helps them create a pathway to gain skills of
professionalism and administrative work. Carey describes that women have unequal benefits to
men in the American workforce, and evaluates how this program can help women become more
successful. This program provides a positive way for women to knock down the disadvantages
My researched article supports the argument that women face disadvantages in the
American workforce through communication and language. All of my journal articles are
convincing sources to support my argument, and all focus on ways that women face
organization, "ATHENA Women Empowered." The language, communication, and rhetoric that
is used in all of the social media posts was a positive, celebratory, and encouraging way of
optimistic perception of women, which makes female members feel a sense of unity and supports
confidence among themselves as women. The organization used rhetoric throughout their social
media posts by effectively persuading the audience members to view women in a more
optimistic light and celebrate their qualities instead of bringing them down. Through this
resource, I observed the club and identified the ways that they communicate to their members
through social media platforms positively. When I was evaluating their social media such as their
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website, Twitter, and Instagram, I discovered positive language and communication throughout
their social media platforms about this topic and how it influences people's perspectives. Also, in
my primary research, I conducted two interviews in which helped me further understand how
language and communication play a role in the perspectives of women. My primary and
secondary data will both contribute to the argument that through rhetoric, women face many
Methods
When developing research for my research question, I relied on two primary sources:
interviews and multimodal textual analysis. A multimodal textual analysis includes the
evaluates the way the message is delivered to the audience. For my multimodal textual analysis, I
analyzed some social media platforms that the organization, Athena Women Empowered, had.
Some of these outlets included their website, Twitter, and Instagram. When collecting research
for my primary data, my approach was to focus on posts that used language and communication
as an outreach to women in a positive manner. When analyzing the social media posts, I focused
on popularity, relation to the discourse community, purpose, language communication, and word
choice, visual, and hashtags. When focusing on these characteristics, when analyzing their posts,
it allowed me to see the involvement of the members and the impact that these positive messages
have on its audience members. This aspect directly correlated to my overall research question of
After conducting my multimodal textual analysis, I also did two interviews with members
of the organization, Athena Women Empowered. When performing these interviews, I wanted to
primarily focus on how they believed that their club's use of language and communication of
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women is essential for their members to experience. I decided to interview someone who had
been apart of the organization before and was a returning member, and also interview someone
new to the club and evaluate their perspectives of women. When developing interview questions,
I wanted to focus primarily on how the club impacts people's perceptions of women through their
use of communication with their members. My interview was comprised of six questions, some
being about them or their involvement in the club, and others focusing on the rhetoric aspect of
their organization and the impact it has on the perception of women. My interviews and
multimodal textual analysis combined will help in determining how the use of language and
communication through various platforms affects the opinions of women and, overall, the
Even though I gathered plenty of information to prove that language and communication
have effects on the way people perceive women, I believe I could have conducted a survey that
focused on people's perceptions outside of the organization. In the survey, I could have included
men and women and see their beliefs on if women face disadvantages in the American
workforce, and if language and communication has an effect on this. Since there is a limited
amount of time for this project, it is hard to make broad generalizations of everyone's beliefs on
this particular topic. But, my primary research is convincing evidence that language and
Results
Once I selected an evaluated my four social media posts from my primary research, I
used a coding chart that compared the similarities and differences between the posts by
evaluating six different characteristics. These included; popularity, relation to the discourse
community, purpose, language communication, and word choice, visual, and hashtags. The chart
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compared social media posts from Athena Women Empowered Instagram and Twitter. When
selecting what codes I wanted to use to compare these two social media platforms, I tried to
relate it to my research question. I focused on the impact that the post had on its audience and the
overall message it was conveying to its members. Since my research question is primarily
decided to include this as one of my codes. This allowed me to focus on positive ways that the
club communicated to its members to empower women and encourage positive perceptions of
women. Since Downs (2019) primarily focuses on how rhetoric shapes our everyday lives
through communication, this directly relates to my focus on language and communication. The
discourse community of the disadvantages of women in the American workforce primarily relies
Instagram Post #1
The first Instagram post I chose to analyze for my primary research was a post dedicated
to international women's day that has a quote as their primary visual. The post contained a
hashtag that said #internationalwomensday and got 19 likes. As shown in Figure 1, the photo is a
floral and purple background with a quote stating, "Empowered Women Empower the World!"
Happy International Women's Day! Once I found this post, I knew I wanted to use it because it is
a strong message that empowers women on a very significant day for females. It is a positive
post that allows girls to celebrate being a woman. It also provides members of a sense of unity
when celebrating international women's day with other females. In regards to its language and
rhetoric, the post encourages women with a powerful quote to commemorate this day. The use of
language helps improve a positive perception of women to fellow members of the organization.
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This specific post aided in helping me answer my research question because it helped me further
evaluate the power of words through a social media platform and the effects it can have on the
perceptions of women. This was a direct correlation to the use of language and communication
from the club and the impact of it. These posts positivity helped encourage women to celebrate
their day, and it was a way to celebrate females through a positive and inspiring quote.
Figure 1
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Instagram Post #2
The second post I chose to analyze that Athena Women Empowered used on their social media
was a post honoring an influential women figure, Katherine Johnson. The post received 32 likes
most significant difference between these two uploads is that these posts contain a post of a
strong independent woman who is a mathematician for NASA. The purpose of the two uploads is
also very different because this one focuses more on celebrating and empowering women, and
the previous post focuses more on celebrating women internationally. The post includes a
sparkly pink background to a quote that reads, "Girls are capable of doing everything men are
capable of doing. Sometimes they have more imagination than men." (Figure 2) There is also a
second picture included in the post of Katherine Johnson working on math for NASA. (Figure 3)
The post's purpose is to remind members that a woman can do anything a man can. The post also
discusses an inspiring woman and her journey that made a difference for women today. The post
also uses key elements of rhetoric by using a positive and encouraging quote that reminds
women that they are capable of anything. It also honors a woman that overcame obstacles in this
discourse community. This post supports my research question because it again exemplifies the
Figure 2
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Figure 3
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Twitter Post 1
Instead of only evaluating the club's Instagram post, I decided to include one of their twitter
posts that were posted on the same day as the post I used in figure 1. The differences between
figure 1 and this post are that figure 1 got more activity and participation from the members, and
it also included a visual. When finding a twitter post, I wanted to find one that correctly depicts
the effects on the club's language and communication to the perception of women on the
members through their social media platform. The post, as demonstrated in figure 4, is a tweet
that states, "*purple heart* International Women's Day *Purple Heart* A global day celebrating
the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women. We're stronger when we
support one…" The purpose of this post was to celebrate a holiday that recognizes women and
their achievements. Also, a reminder to support other women instead of bringing each other
down. This post also supports my research of rhetoric in my discourse community because it
effectively reminds women that all of their hard work does not go unrecognized through a great
tweet. Given that this post did not receive nearly as much attention as the Instagram posts, it is
strong evidence that the members of the organization prefer to communicate with the club
Figure 4
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Instagram Post #3
The final post I decided to use was another post that highlighted a holiday celebrated that
focuses on women that are sometimes overlooked, Mothers Day.This post received 14 likes and
#UCF.This post (Figure 5), is a floral and purple background with a statement in the middle
stating, “Happy Mother’s Day- From Athena Women Empowered.” This post shows that the
organization is promoting and celebrating this holiday and is encouraging its fellow members to
participate too. The purpose of the post is to serve as a reminder to all mothers that they have a
hard job. This day recognizes all their hard work and celebrates their achievements as a woman.
This Instagram post also focuses on honoring and identifying all mothers and marking them as
strong females. In regards to rhetoric, this post directly correlates to my research question
because it uses positive language and communication in the visual to celebrates all mothers and
honors all the hard work that they do. This post is insightful to my research question because it
focuses on a positive day that focuses on women, and the organization uses its social media
Figure 5
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Interview
After collecting my primary data from my social media outlets, I wanted to analyze
further the effects that language and communication have on my discourse community and
decided to conduct two interviews with different members in the Athena Women Empowered
organization. The interview questions' purpose was to analyze the views of fellow members of
the club and ask them how they think this organization has an impact through its rhetoric. The
two people I decided to interview are Audrey Fauteux, who has been apart of this club for over a
year, and Alyssa Rivera, who recently joined Athena Women Empowered this year. The
interview process was conducted before we went on spring break, and one of the first questions I
asked was what school year they were currently in. Audrey is a junior who is very outgoing and
has enjoyed being apart of this organization and watching its growth. Alyssa is only a freshman,
and she says going in, she was timid, but being a part of such a positive group has helped her
step outside of her comfort zone and become more confident in herself. She also said that
although she has not been apart of this club for long, she has seen its positive outreach firsthand
on women. Following this, I asked what they believed the purpose of Athena Women
Empowered was. Audrey quickly answered, saying that it was a group of women who want to
focus on changing the perception of what it means to be a woman and maturing the conversation
in our efforts along the way. Alyssa had a different perspective on what the purpose was and said
that it was a way for ladies to improve their confidence and have the courage to do whatever they
want to do. After these powerful statements made by these two ladies, I asked them why they
decided to join the Athena Women Empowered. Audrey stated that it was a way for her to voice
her opinions on some of the disadvantages women face and that being a part of a group of strong
women encourages her that women are capable of anything. Alyssa says that she was nervous
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about joining the club because of her shy character. Still, once becoming a member, she realized
that her joining was because she wanted to boost her confidence and redefine what it means to be
a woman. She says that being surrounded by so many beautiful, smart, and courageous women
has made her a more confident girl today. Following these answers, I asked the two girls if they
believed that women faced disadvantages in the American workforce today. Audrey was quick to
reply, saying absolutely yes! But, these disadvantages should only encourage women to
overcome the odds and prove that they are fit to do anything that a man can. Alyssa replied with
a similar answer saying yes, women face disadvantages in the workforce, but its what they do in
the face of these obstacles that make them stronger women. Coming toward the end of the
interview, I asked them if they believe that language and communication is one of the causes of
this problem. Audrey says that yes, she thinks language has a significant effect on the way the
world perceives women. She stated that the more people continuously gender discrimination
against women through language, the more people start to believe it, and it soon becomes a belief
that men are superior to women when that is not the case at all. Alyssa quickly replied that she
thought that language is very detrimental to how the world perceives women because it seems
like all people have to say is negative or makes women seem less than a man. Alyssa believes the
more positive and encouraging statements we make about women, the closer we are to changing
this gender bias stereotype. The final question I asked in this interview process was, how does
your organization's social media (website, Twitter, Instagram) affect the perception people have
on women in the American workforce? Audrey began by saying that their social media platforms
are ways for them to communicate positively that women are strong and shine a positive light on
the power of women. Alyssa believes that their social media outlets are great reminders that you
should be confident that you are a woman because you are capable of anything. The interviews
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supported my research question in being that language and communication does affect people’s
perception of women and does have effect on a women’s disadvantages in the American
workforce.
Discussion
Bada and Genc (2018), Lan and Jingxia (2019), Molla (2016), and Tarravo (2014) all talked
about how there is a contributing factor of sexism in language, which develops our perceptions
that language and communication have on the opinions of women are our society. This topic is
very debatable and a growing research topic due to the belief that there is gender discrimination
in our community, especially in our workforce. My project focused on how language and
research pertained to rhetoric from peer-reviewed research journal articles, and my primary
sources are social media posts and two conducted interviews from members of the Athena
Empowered Women organization. My research revealed that language and communication has a
significant effect on the way people perceive women in our society today. There is a belief that
there is sexism in our language, which leads to gender discrimination and gender bias, which
leads to disadvantages for women. The University of Central Florida offers a club called Athena
Women Empowered in which offers fellow females the ability to change the perception of
women and build up their confidence. Throughout my findings, I developed a new question
Athena Women Empowered social media pages. How can the organization extend its positive
reach to other women who may not know about this club that is offered at UCF that focuses on
empowering women? Do their quotes promote a definite sense of unity between women, and
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how can we incorporate these optimistic posts into their social media more often? How can this
organization use their strong message to interact with other women and create a stronger
discourse community to make women feel strong? These questions are substantial areas of
research in which focus on improving the message and interaction in this particular discourse
community. These questions can only help improve the organization but increasing their
numbers in the unity of their community and continuing to encourage women fully.
After I analyzed all four of my social media posts for my primary research, I began to
compare the similarities in the social media posts to my discourse community. In ATHENA
Women Empowered social media posts, I focused on posts that inspire women more. Their
social media also includes various events that members can attend, which promote the positive
perception of females. The organization had multiple posts that empowered women and even
celebrated some important days that recognizes the achievements of women. The organization's
Instagram page was significantly more popular than their Twitter account, given that Instagram
had almost 200 more followers and seemed to be a more active and reliable account. The
language, communication, and rhetoric that is used in all of the social media posts was a positive,
celebratory, and encouraging way of communicating to their audience through a social media
platform. Also, it encouraged an optimistic perception of women, which makes female members
feel a sense of unity and supports confidence among themselves as women. The posts I depicted
platforms. The results of my primary sources of social media support the claims and conclusions
that my secondary sources of peer-reviewed articles made about language and communications
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effects of the disadvantages of women in the American workforce. The social media posts
supported the findings in the researched articles by emulating that positive words make positive
ways to encourage women- this is something that my primary sources practiced by spreading
positivity to women through language and communication on their social media posts. My
findings show that a positive quote and a celebratory occasion for women can draw attention to
the post, which makes more members of this organization interact with the post. My findings
also demonstrate how language and communication is a crucial factor when changing the
perception of women in a positive nature through social media outlets. The organization used
rhetoric throughout their social media posts by effectively persuading the audience members to
view women in a more optimistic light and celebrate their qualities instead of bringing them
down.
providing me with honest feedback about the discourse community. The fellow members of the
club discussed the positive outreach the Athena Women Empowered has had on them and how it
has created a journey to being a more confident woman for them. The two ladies I interviewed
also agreed that language and communication is a problem for the way that women are perceived
in society, and the only way to change it is to talk more positively about women. Both my
interview and my multimodal analysis results support the belief that language and
Conclusion
Focusing on improving the way we speak about women should be a significant focus
when trying to communicate with your peers. The use of sexism in language leads to gender
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discrimination and gender bias, which only creates more disadvantages for women to face. My
secondary sources revealed that the only way to eliminate gender discrimination is to change the
way we are communicating with others. The more positively you talk about women, the more
optimistic outlook other people have on females too. When analyzing the social media platforms
of Athena Women Empowered, I explained how their language and communication through their
posts set women with a more confident mindset to believe they are capable of anything they put
their minds to. My interviews also showed that being around a strong female group can create a
more confident individual. Thus, my findings from my peer-reviewed researched journal articles,
multimodal textual analysis, and interviews all compared how rhetoric in a discourse community
can change anyone's perspective of women and change the disadvantages women face in the
American workforce. By utilizing positive language and communication, the more productive
and positive results will come from gender stereotyping and will give both males and females
My findings revealed vital aspects in my discourse community in which I learned the impact
that social media has on my community. I also further understood the power of language and
research, I was still raised with a few questions that interested me when creating this research
article being; How can the organization extend its positive reach to other women who may not
know about this club that is offered at UCF that focuses on empowering women? Do their quotes
promote a definite sense of unity between women, and how can we incorporate these optimistic
posts into their social media more often? How can this organization use their strong message to
interact with other women and create a stronger discourse community to make women feel
strong? These areas of research could help extend the organization outreach to other individuals
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who will make their message more powerful. Boosting the amount of participation and members
in the club can improve their message with others and influence change.
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Refrences
Bada, E., & Genc, B. (2018). Sustainability in English Academic Writing: The Binary
Downs, D. (2019). Rhetoric: Making Sense of Human Interaction and Meaning- Making.
Reilly, E. D., Rackley, K. R., & Awad, G. H. (2016). Perceptions of Male and Female
10.1177/0894845316641514.
Katherine Johnson, NASA mathematician, who helped our nation reach the stars. She broke
down barriers for women and people of color while on her pursuit to better understand our
universe. Her legacy will inspire generations of stargazers for decades to come. [Instagram Post].
the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women. We’re stronger when we
https://twitter.com/UCFAthenaWE/status/1104087385422340096
each one is beautiful and unique Happy Mother’s Day to all of the amazing moms out there!
Appendix A
Interview Questions
1.What year of school are you in currently? (Freshman, Sophomore, Junior, Senior)
5.Do you think women have disadvantages in the American workforce? Do you think language
6. Do you think language and communication is one of the causes of this problem? If so, why?
7. How does your organizations social media (website, Twitter, Instagram) effect the perception
Appendix B
Coding Chart
Coding Chart Instagram Post Instagram Post #2 Twitter Post Instagram Post
#1 National Women’s Honoring #1 #3 Mother’s
Day Katherine International Day
Johnson Women’s
Day
Popularity 19 likes 32 likes 14 likes
1 comment
Relation to Empowerment Honoring a Celebrating Honoring and
Discourse Of women strong women a Holiday recognizing all
Community figure dedicated to mothers and
Women celebrating
them as strong
females.
Purpose Remind members that it Reminds A post that A reminder to
was international members that a celebrates a all mothers
women’s day and woman can do holiday that that they have
provided a motivational anything a man recognizes a hard job.
quote to inspire can. The post also women and This day
women; “Empowered discusses an their recognizes all
Women Empower the inspiring woman achievement their hard
World!” and her journey s. Also, a work and
that made a reminder to celebrates their
difference for support other personal
women today women achievements
instead of as a woman.
bringing
each other
down.
Language, A positive post that Positive and A A post that
Communicatio empowers girls to encouraging celebratory celebrates all
n celebrate being a reminder that post that mothers and
and woman. women are reminds honors all the
Word Choice It also provides capable of women that hard work that
members of a sense of anything. It also all of their they do.
unity when celebrating honors a woman hard work
international women’s that overcame does not go
day with other females. obstacles in this unrecognize
discourse d.
community.
Visual A floral and purple Pink sparkly A tweet that A floral and
background with a background to a states, purple
quote stating; quote that reads, “*purple background
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