Are We Silent or Silenced? A Case Study of Working Mothers

Abstract

This paper argues for a rhetorical approach to understand how teachers (working mothers) construct silence (resistance or acceptance) in their multiple identities, when academic decisions  are taken in meetings that directly affect them and their work. This cross-sectional case study  examines arguments for and against a structural change made in an educational institution for  girls in Karachi, where 80%of the population is female faculty. The objective is to present how  certain constructions (arguments) are made real while others are undermined as a rhetorical  achievement through persuasive talk. Rhetorical analysis was chosen to expose the link between  identity construction and silence, through rhetorical strategies drawing on local and cultural  discourses with language as a unit of analysis. Since rhetoric is a study of argumentation and  persuasion; its application to organizational studies may help the researcher to emphasize over  its political functions and understand the language in a critical perspective. Semi-structured  interviews with 12 respondents, for an in-depth analysis turned out to be the most effective  technique for collecting such data.