Doing It for the Girls Commentary

“Doing It For The Girls” is an article that appears to be written in the last 2 years and is written in the point of view of a journalist working at a developed, Western-based, English speaking magazine company. This article is written about the stereotypes surrounding the typically male dominated field of nuclear engineering and the criticism that Katie Fish faces as a young, female nuclear engineer. The discourse used in this article is formal yet accessible, following the typical style of a magazine article that is catering to a wide readership. This article was made by either a reporter or a publicist for the EDF energy company in hopes of promoting jobs for women in male dominated fields. The possible audiences for this article include young adults in college seeking career options, women who have similar job qualifications as Fish and want to pursue alternate career options, potential employers looking to hire, women’s empowerment organizations, teenagers who aspire to be like Fish, parents who wish for their daughters to be as successful as Fish and government agencies that wish to use Fish as a role model for women’s empowerment. The actual audiences however include the general public as this article was published in a magazine that can be purchased and viewed by everyone. Essentially, this article was written to endorse career options for women that are usually in fields that are influenced by males while also promoting EDF Energy for their open policy towards women engineers.

The graphology of pictures and text and the accessible lexis in this article helps to effectively promote Fish’s job in the nuclear engineering industry. Along the right-hand side of the article, there is an oversized picture of Katie Fish that occupies one-third of the page. This picture shows Fish sharply dressed in work attire and justifies that she is a young, confident woman who is content and happy with her job and current lifestyle. The title, “Doing It For The Girls” is...