GOWRI MANICKAVASAGAM
AHMEDABAD, MARCH 7
To celebrate International Women’s Day 2020, micro-blogging site Twitter on Friday launched a special emoji with the hashtag ‘#EveryWoman’.
Globally, there have been 125 million Tweets about feminism and equality over the past three years. Conversations are closely tied to International Women’s Day, which is on March 8, the platform said.
“At Twitter, we see incredibly vibrant and diverse voices on our platform, from those engaging in joyful everyday conversations, to strong women who raise awareness about issues that matter,” said Maya Hari (@maya_hari), Vice President, Asia Pacific at Twitter.
Through #EveryWoman, we want to highlight every shade and every kind of Indian woman, and honour those who are transforming how we are perceived in the workplace and beyond,” Hari added.
According to the social media platform, in the first few months of 2020 there was an 87 per cent growth in conversations in India to do with women’s day and women’s empowerment when compared to the same months in 2019 (January 1 – February 25).
Top five hashtags for women-related conversations on Twitter in India from 2017 till now, included — #MeToo/#MeTooIndia, #SareeTwitter, #GirlsWhoDrinkBeer, #LahuKaLagaan and #JhumkaTwitter, the company said.
Honouring #EveryWoman’s voice on the platform, Twitter India is celebrating these five inspiring women on International Women’s Day: Chinmayi Sripaada, Dutee Chand, Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, Shereen Bhan and Late Sushma Swaraj.
1) #VoiceOfChange: ChinmayiSripaada@Chinmayi
Tamil playback singer ChinmayiSripaada is a #VoiceOfChange on Twitter. She uses this voice to talk about harassment in the entertainment industry, while bringing to the fore stories of women from across India.
“Twitter is the mic that marginalised sections of society never had before. The platform has given the ability to women to use their words, advocate for themselves and speak up about the issues that are important to them. I feel glad to be recognised as a #VoiceOfChange by the platform, as it means I am using my voice well, to influence positive change and encouraging other women to voice their thoughts and perspectives too.” – ChinmayiSripaada (@Chinmayi)
2) #RecordBreaker: Dutee Chand @DuteeChand
Dutee Chand, India’s fastest woman clocking 100 metres in 11:24, is a #RecordBreaker both on and off the track. As the first Indian sportsperson to be open about being part of the LGBTQ+ community, she isn’t afraid of unchartered waters, using her Twitter handle to address gender bias in sports. Her most Retweeted Tweet of last year was when she claimed her Summer Olympic trophy telling the world ‘Pull me down, I will come back stronger!’
“My well-wishers in India and across the world have given me the motivation and strength over the years to be unapologetically who I am. It gives me happiness to be able to connect with my fans and friends, and let them know exactly how hard I have been working. I hope more Indian women use Twitter to speak up for themselves and get support from people and authorities across India.” – Dutee Chand (@DuteeChand)
3) #Catalyst: Kiran Mazumdar Shaw @kiranshaw
Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, a first-generation entrepreneur and scientist is globally lauded for her work in the biopharmaceuticals industry. She shattered gender stereotypes in the workplace by becoming a successful entrepreneur. Now, she uses Twitter to support women across STEM and create awareness about issues in and around Bengaluru where she lives.
4) #TwitterTurk: ShereenBhan@ShereenBhan
ShereenBhan, a journalist, news anchor and Managing Editor, CNBC-TV18 uses Twitter to break a range of news, many of these stories have redefined the Indian economic landscape in recent times.
5) #TwitterDiplomat: Late SushmaSwaraj@SushmaSwaraj
An illustrious leader and India’s former Minister of External Affairs, Late SushmaSwaraj had mastered Twitter. She was committed to public service, and used Twitter to promptly help those who directly reached out to her.
Speaking about the initiative as well as conversations by women on the platform, Manish Maheshwari (@manishm345), Managing Director – Twitter India said, “Twitter is committed to powering positive change by fostering healthy conversations, sharing stories that inspire, and highlighting individuals who create real impact through Twitter. As a company committed to ensuring inclusivity and diversity, #IWD2020 is particularly special to us. In fact, Indians are the second largest group to follow @TwitterWomen after Americans. It is our honour to acknowledge these incredible Indian voices who make conversations on Twitter interesting and vibrant, inspiring #EveryWoman while at it.”
Safety features on Twitter that #EveryWoman should know about
Twitter is constantly exploring new and dynamic ways to give more control to people over their conversations and timeline, and certain Twitter tools can be particularly useful to women as they engage in the public conversation.
Follow these five pro tips to control the Twitter experience:
- Hide Replies: Anyone can choose to hide replies to their Tweets, and everyone can see and engage with hidden replies by tapping the grey icon that will appear on the Tweets. This way, people have more control over the conversations they start.
- Filtered notifications: People can apply different filters on the types of notifications they receive. Mute Notifications allows people to mute phrases and words they’d like to avoid seeing in their notifications. Advanced Filters allows them to disable notifications from certain types of accounts or at certain time periods – for example if their account is receiving a lot of sudden (perhaps unwanted) attention.
- Unfollow: If someone wants to stop seeing a particular account’s Tweets in their home timeline, they can simply unfollow the account. They can still view the Tweets on an as-needed basis by visiting the profile, unless the Tweets on the profile are protected.
- Mute: People can remove an account’s Tweets from their timeline without unfollowing or blocking them. Advanced Mute can also be used for particular words, conversations, phrases, usernames, emojis, or hashtags. Twitter gives people the option to mute Tweets that contain particular words, phrases, usernames, emojis, or hashtags. Muting will remove these Tweets from the Notifications tab, push notifications, SMS, email notifications, Home timeline, and from replies to Tweets.
- Block: People can restrict specific accounts from contacting them, seeing their Tweets, and following them by blocking the account.