Rhetorical Analysis of WuDunn’s TED talk: "Our Century's Greatest Injustice"

              Sheryl Wudunn’s talk “Our Century’s Greatest Injustice” for TEDGlobal shed light on the harsh realities of girls living in various rural areas of the world. Ms.Wudunn introduces us to four women who were able to overcome their bleak start in life through either an education or economic opportunity, two things Wudunn says is critical for a woman to have in order to better her own life and the lives in her community. Watching Ms.Wudunn’s talk and hearing the stories behind these great and courageous women I gained not only respect for these women but it also inspired me to educate myself more on this issue. The inspiration to learn more about it stems not only from the fact that I myself am a woman but also that I could have easily been one of these women had my parents not immigrated to the United States. Ms.Wudunn also talked about the issue of sex trafficking, a huge problem right here in the Bay Area. A reminder that while the women in Ms.Wudunn’s talk live in countries far away, there are victims of these issues in our own backyard.
          Ms.Wudunn gave a phenomenal talk and is definitely a skilled speaker. She was very organized throughout her talk, making it easy for the audience to follow along. Her delivery as a speaker was also great, she wasn’t stiff and her passion for the cause was clear in her speech. Wudunn appeals to the audience both emotionally and logically. The anecdotes used in her talk showed a more emotional approach, while the statistics and solutions she talks about were more logical. While the topic of the talk was serious, she was great at adding a little humor into her talk without it coming off as inappropriate. The arguments made by Wudunn in her talk were also executed nicely.
        The main arguments made by Ms.Wudunn is the importance of how educating women and giving them economic opportunities can be transformative for communities as a whole but also that all of us as a global community have a responsibility  to make sure these changes take place. Wudunn supports these claims by using anecdotes of how these changes have effectively changed lives as her evidence. The solutions she gives in her argument are all fairly easy to replicate, so it backs up her call for action in regard to everyone pitching in to help. She also effectively refutes the claim that US aid is hopeless by pointing out that while it’s not easy, it’s important to learn from those failures and find better ways we can help.
     The transcript of Wudunn’s talk works effectively as a piece of writing too. The organized flow she had in her talk translates nicely as an introduction, body, and conclusion. Throughout the talk she does make smooth transitions that would also work as a piece of writing. She does a great job of introducing a solution and setting up how it would work for the audience in one paragraph before going into a story that embodies that claim in the next paragraph. For example, before telling Saima’s story, she first talks about economic opportunity and how it benefits women and their communities. The last sentence is a great example of an effective transition into Saima’s story, “With economic opportunity, it can be transformative”. The theme was also very clear, which was the importance of educating women and economic opportunities for women.
       The ideas given by Wudunn in her talk are thought provoking and inspirational. The way she communicated her ideas in her talk is also a great example of how great writing is essential to giving a great speech. Like writing, speeches must be organized in a way that is easy for an audience or reader to follow.

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