The global Twitter conversation on women's rights

Wednesday, 18 March 2015

As the world celebrated International Women’s Day last week, the global conversation on women’s rights was captured on Twitter through #IWD2015 and #Beijing20. Supporters took to the platform to share their thoughts on the status quo, hopes for the future, and what they’re doing to fight for gender equality around the globe.

The United Nations (@UN) kicked off the week’s activities with a Twitter-hosted video message from UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on March 8, when International Women’s Day is officially recognized.

Thousands joined the march in New York City.

The UN used Twitter to organize and spotlight this content, including a Twitter Reverb that highlighted people using #IWD2015.

A collection of Tweets from the march can be seen here:

The #Beijing20 hashtag was used to mark the 20th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, solidifying the UN’s commit to women’s rights and advancement around the globe. On March 10, UN Women (@UN_Women) held an event dedicated to the anniversary. The focus reflected on what progress has been made in the past two decades, and what gains still need to be made to achieve “50/50 gender equality by 2030.”

A Twitter Mirror backstage at this event captured the moments before speakers stepped onstage to deliver their messages to the world, including @PattyArquette and @MelindaGates, among others.

The #IWD2015 conversation from Tuesday continued through Wednesday, closing out the with a live Q&A with Farhan Akhtar (@faroutakhtar) — a Bollywood megastar who is also a @UN_Women Goodwill Ambassador for gender equality, and performer at the #Beijing20 event.

Responding to questions using #AskFarhan, he gave his followers an up close and personal look at his thoughts on the status and future of women’s equality.



Throughout the week, world leaders and activists came together on Twitter to have their voices heard on the fight for women’s rights and gender equality across all nations.



For more of these Tweets, check out this collection: