TOW #11- "Engineering a Better Future for Girls" Amy Fleischer

As a young woman trying to go into the engineering field, this article made me realize that not everyone is so lucky to have had encouragement to explore and pursue careers and education in scientific and technical fields.  Amy Fleischer, a professor of Mechanical Engineering at Villanova University, argues that the United States as a whole needs to make it known to young women that STEM (scientific, technology, engineering, and math) fields are not only for men but for everyone.  In her article published in U.S. News, she uses rhetorical questions along with statistics to persuade her audience of Americans first that there aren't enough women in engineering and then that we need to recruit more women into STEM fields.  

While explaining how few women make up STEM fields, she writes that "...young women currently make up only 18 percent of engineering majors..."  Through this statistic, she shows that she isn't just ranting about something that only she thinks about.  It's not only that she doesn't see many women in her classroom, but also that, on average, women don't make up a big portion in engineering in the entire country among all schools.  Without statistics like these, the audience would not be able to truly take what Fleischer was saying as credible. This helps to show that she truly did her research before writing this article and that this issue should really be taken seriously.  When the audience takes her writing seriously, they can take her purpose more seriously, and truly consider pushing women into STEM fields like engineering. 

Through rhetorical questioning, Fleischer not only keeps her audience interested, but also allows them to engage in more a conversation with her writing.  Without feeling like they are being talked down to, the audience can accept Fleischer’s ideas more effectively and feel like they are taking suggestions from a friend or colleague rather than from a boss. 

Fleischer makes many good points throughout her article, making it clear to her audience that more women should be going into STEM fields.  However, to make her purpose even more effective, she could have used her rhetoric to push her audience to truly act upon this rather than just to think about the issue.