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Tara Martinez

Dr. Lynda Davis

ENG 20803 9:30

February 14, 2017

Rhetorical Analysis of Just Because Im a Woman

In 1968, country singer Dolly Parton released her second single Just because

Im a Woman. Partons purpose for writing the song is to present the double standard

that exists in society during the sixties which was the judgment when a man makes a

mistake verses a woman making a mistake. She wrote the song about a current dispute

that she was having with her husband at the time. She creates an angry and frustrated

tone to support her argument for equal treatment among genders because this is

coming from her own personal frustrations.

Parton starts the song by immediately addressing the double standard to the

audience by mentioning gender inequality and judgments of women when it comes to

mistakes and their sexual history. She begins the argument to her listeners by first

stating I can see youre disappointed by the way you look at me. She then includes

that Im sorry Im not the woman that you thought I would be. These two lines in the

song help express that she sees how she has disappointed the reader by not doing

what has been expected of her and she also admits to having her own mistakes. She

then further justifies her main point of the song with the line My mistakes are no worse

than yours because Im a woman. This line is the most important statement to Partons

argument and is said throughout the song. Parton repeats this line several times to

further emphasize the importance of the message she is trying to get across.

Parton shifts more to aiming the next verse at her own personal situation with her

husband when she says the line So when you look at me dont feel sorry for yourself,
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just think of all the shame you might have brought to someone else. By saying this line,

she is identifying to men in general or in her case Partons husband that they should not

feel bad for themselves for being with or marrying a woman that is not pure in their

eyes. They should be thinking about the women that they have been with previously

and now these womens husbands are now disappointed and judging them for not being

the women their husbands wanted them to be. Parton, at this point in the song argues

the hypocrisy of the situation and does so in a more argumentative tone.

In the next verse Parton wants to get the point across that men and women are

equals and come from the same place, she begins the verse Just let me tell you this

then well know where we stand. In my opinion by having this line in the song it sets up

a solid base for the argument that Parton is about to make. By having the words well

both know where we stand, she is saying that men and women are equals and they

start out in the same place when it comes to making and understanding each others

mistakes. I think that the word we is an especially impactful word because it groups

the different genders together and refers to them as one. After the previous line, Parton

finalizes the verse by having the primary argument that Parton is trying to make with this

song repeated again; My mistakes are no worse than yours just because Im a

woman. This repeated line has even more meaning than when Parton previously used

it because she has given more points to further her argument.

Parton begins to shift the tone of the song to being a little more aggressive when

she goes into the next verse talking about a man. The line she uses is Now a man will

take a good girl and hell ruin her reputation. When Parton says this line she is talking

about how a man and a woman may want to have a non-committal relationship,
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however this could ruin the reputation of the woman. The reason that this type of

relationship ruins the reputation goes back to the primary point that Parton is trying to

make with this song, that the mistakes of a woman or previous relationships are

regarded completely differently than if a man were to do the exact same thing. Partons

next line in the verse is But when he wants to marry well, thats a different situation.

She is demonstrating how when a man is looking to get married he doesnt think of the

girls that he has previously been with as good girls. In my opinion she is saying that a

man will want to marry someone who is pure or the good girl in his eyes and has never

been with another man in a sexual manner. Then if the husband finds out that his wife

has been with others these are viewed as mistakes even if he has been with someone

else.

The next verse flows nicely and continues the point of the previous verse that

Parton is trying to make. Parton states Hell just walk off and leave her to do the best

she can while he looks for another angel to wear his wedding band. Parton illustrates

that when a man finds out that his wife is not pure he does not want to be with her

anymore, and he will just want to find another angel to fill her spot. Meanwhile the

woman that he had previously married will be left to do the best she can. A lot of women

during this time were housewives or werent in a position to 100% be able to support

themselves. So if the husband did leave their wife, she would have to find a way to

support herself and then if they had children from the marriage she would have to

support them too. All of this would be the results of unfair social views of when a woman

makes a mistake.
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Partons next verse refers more to her personal situation that sparked the whole

reason for this song. She comments on the fact that she knows that she not perfect or

pure by saying the line Now I know that Im no angel. Parton in her next line refers

back to the man when she says If thats what you thought youd found. Her tone is a

little harsher here because this is more aimed at her husband, because she is basically

saying if he thinks he married a perfect woman he didnt. Therefore, the previous line

sets up that the next line in this verse will be more about her own personal situation

where she says I was just the victim of a man that let me down. Here Parton is very

clearly referring to her husband as the man that let her down because he, just like

society during that time judged her very harshly for her mistakes. Parton talked about

how the two argued a lot about how her husband was not okay with her being in

previous relationships.

The final verse of the song Parton does a good job of bringing every point she

has made thus far together to complete her argument. She says Yes, Ive made my

mistakes but listen and understand my mistakes are no worse than yours just because

Im a woman. She repeats the last line again to further emphasize the importance of it.

Parton wants everyone to know that no ones mistakes are worse than anyone elses

just because of gender.

Parton wrote this from her own personal standpoint and frustrations on this

certain part of womens rights. I believe this really helped set the overall angry and

frustrated tone for the song. The listener could tell that she was passionate about what

she wrote and sang about, because the level of anger and passion that came out even

more as the song continued. She wanted to make it clear that no matter your gender,
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we have all made mistakes and no one should be punished or judged more over

someone else because of it.

Word Count: 1343

Authors Note: This is my final draft of my paper. I liked this piece because Dolly Parton

wrote it from her own personal situation that she was going through. I also felt like it

would have related to a lot of women during that time and continues to relate to women

today. The thing I am most concerned about in my paper is correct grammar usage and

properly outlining the paper.

Works Cited
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Musixmatch, Dolly Parton, Just because Im a Woman Lyrics, AZLyrics.com, Feb. 4

2017