Commissive The data findings of the kinds of Speech Acts presented in Emma
As it has been explained by Emma how men suffer from the gender inequality too, she believed that men could also be
sensitive, expressive, emotional, and somehow feminine too. But when they decided to be like that, they were called as pushy
and weak which then they made them feel less of a man. This condition made them very upset because they could not
determine themselves like what they wanted to be. Expressing their freedom and feeling was really important
for every single person since it was the form of self-happiness. The reason why human needed to survive in this world was
because they wanted to achieve their self-happiness. If their self- happiness was violated, it would make the person suffer and live
under pressure. The worst scenario was that how it could even make them commit to suicide just like what we could see in
newspapers in the recent days. There were a lot of men kill themselves simply because they felt that they were no longer
able to find happiness inside their mind because of the society’s construction.
Emma tried to portray when the people realized that gender inequality also prohibited men to execute their freedom, men
would also felt triggered to join the movement too. She added when men could be free from the stereotypes, as the
consequences the women would be free too. So, it was clear that the movement would bring a win-win solution for both genders.
“And” was put in front of the utterance to add the information which could strengthen the previous statement
which was “We don’t often talk about men being imprisoned by
gender stereotypes but I can see that that they are ”. This proved
to the audience that actually men were also imprisoned by the gender stereotypes as well as the women. Then Emma added the
second statement to strengthen the point that at the end whenever the men were free from this stereotypes, as one of the
consequence, the women would automatically be free too. She emphasized how it was really needed to deconstruct the
gender stereotypes and to bring equality toward both parties. This was a compound sentence because there were two clause
And that when.. and things will... The speaker used future tense like “things will change..” because it was a hope for the
future. However, this hope could be guaranteed once people agreed to free men from the stereotypes. She chose the word
“natural consequence” because it sounded soft and attached the emotion of the audience. Therefore, the audience could really
feel how suffer the women and men were because of the gender stereotypes. If we could free one of them, we could also free all
of them.
2 Threatening
Threatening is used to express some danger or unpleasant things that will happen in the future if someone does not do
something. The examples of t hreatening in Emma Watson’s
HeForShe are elaborated below.
Because the reality is that if we do nothing it will take 75 years, or for me to be nearly 100, before women can expect to
be paid the same as men for the same work. SP110.30-10.51
In the utterance above, Emma tried to predict what the worst condition was if people kept ignoring the fact that gender needed to
be balanced. It was really frightening seeing the prediction that if until now there was none tries to help, the women would get more
suffer. The problem was not only how they would get the pain but also how they had to feel it for the very long time. She gave the exact
number 75 years and she even strengthened that 75 years was not a small number. It was a number which was close to 100 years. Under
people’s logic, 100 years means at least there are three or four generations who should feel the pain and suffer from this unfair life.
This shows how the sorrow will last long. She believed that the organic change would be there
someday because at the end when the civilization gets better, the people become more modern and more aware to realize the rights
and freedom, the problem would eventually be overcome. However, she tried to tell the world that we did not need to wait to the organic
change to happen. It was not only because its existence was still questionable but also because the world could no longer wait. The
longer we have to wait, the sufferer the women become. So, this is the time for the people to make a fast move to strive for the gender
equality. The unequal treatment was given to women in all spectrums
including in the work field. Emma insisted the people that women deserve to be paid the same as their male counterparts for the same
job. Emma gave the silent and deploring gaze to show that the reality would be very much frightening to face if we could not help the
women to get their rights.
15.5 million girls will be married in the next 16 years as children.
SP110.51-10.59
Marriage is something important and sacred. It is a symbol of the highest expression of sanctity, love and happiness. It is about
how the couple commit to love each other and life happily ever after until they die. You cannot randomly choose a stranger to become
your husband because it is impossible for you to reach the happiness if you are forced to life with someone we do not even know and love.
However, in the reality, there were many young women whose marriage were arranged by their family simply because the
family is poor. Based on the data of UNICEF in 2014, more than 700 million women were married before their 18th birthday. In
Niger, for instance, 77 per cent of women aged 20 to 49 were married before age 18 in contrast to 5 per cent of men in the same
age group. More than one in three about 250 million entered into union before age 15. This showed how deplorable the fact is because
girls were forced to get married in their childhood age. For the society who married their daughters too son, a
marriage was like an exchange of daughters into gold, money and prosper life. So, they expect that when they marry their daughter
with the old rich merchant, their family will get a better life. They believe that their daughters only bring suffering and pathetic life.
Sadly, this idea is strengthened by the stereotype that perceives women as the second class human.
Not only that, but the saddest part was that how they also married their daughters too soon. The brides were still very young.
Their ages were ranging from 10 to under 20 years old. Whereas the grooms were 30 years old or above. The girls did not possess any
choice but to accept. When the girls got married, it cut off all their hopes and happiness. They could no longer play with their peers, go
to schools and pursue their dreams, travel around the world, try new
things and learn from their mistakes. All they could do was only serving their husband whom they did not love since at the very first
place. It was also more tragic when the girls got pregnant. They
were under age and they had to take care of the babies. Many of them died because their body could not resist the pain of being a wife and
mother too soon. We were living in the world where we neglected girls’ right to give a consent to their own marriage.
Emma tried to tell the people the worst condition if we did not change it. There would be more and more children who would
be forced to get married with someone they did not even love. They would be forced to give up their dreams. The moment when they
give up their dreams are the moments when the government significantly loose its potential future generation.
In order to give the vivid prediction, Emma mentioned the numbers so that it could
directly enter the people’s logic to accept that the world would literally no longer be safe for the girls if we did
not fight the imbalance . “15.5 million” was put in the first utterance
to make people aware that it was a big deal. It did not happen to one or two girls but to millions girls in the world.
She even made her point clear by putting the phrase “as children” in the end of her utterance. She knew she has mentioned
“girls” in the beginning of her utterance. However, mentioning
“girls” and “children” in one line of utterance would make the message bold that this was morally wrong for our girls and our
children to be forced to give up their education, their dreams and their happiness to something they were not yet ready for.
And at current rates it won’t be until 2086 before all rural African girls can have a secondary education.
SP110.59-11.10
The problem that was faced by women is not only how they got different treatment in politic, social and also economy, but also
in education spectrum. Many women could not pursue their carrier because they were perceived as less smart and less skilful. This kind
of perception was rooted from how women were not granted the right to get educated. The society had constructed their position as a
housewife whose job is only to take care of the children and the husband. Therefore, they did not see that education would be
important for them to help them with that job. Emma believed that this stereotype of how women could
only be a housewife is wrong. Women had a free dreams to be whatever they want to be. They could be a career woman, a doctor,
a teacher, a politician and so on. In pursuing their dreams, they also deserved to get education like men. They did not even deserve to get
the primary education but also the secondary even tertiary education too.
Emma gave a clear prediction which most likely would happen in the near future, that there were not many African girls who
could pursue their dreams and attend the schools of their secondary education. We all know that everyone deserves to get educated. The
higher education institution you attend in, the higher quality as human being you will get. When you get a good quality as human
being, it will be easier for you to achieve your dream too. These girls deserve to get educated. They also deserve to
achieve their dream. Sadly, they cannot do that not because they did not want to but simply because the people and the culture prohibit
them to be so. It is even more unfair when this phenomenon does not happen to boys. Therefore, the one who suffers the most from this
unfair world is the women. In this prediction Emma also mentioned the number to give
the vivid image. “..it won’t be until 2086..” proved that even until
2086 the number of girls who went to their secondary education was very small. After hearing to this statement, the audiences were
expected to feel the sadness and the frightening future that possibly would happen if we do not do something to stop the inequality from
now.