SINGAPORE - 6 March 2018 - At a time when female voices are rising and coming together all over the world, from #TimesUp to #MeToo to #WomensMarch social movements, International Women's Day on 8 March is a global moment to celebrate women and their impact on society. 

 

In the last 6 months, there has been a 50% increase in conversations around women's rights on Twitter, such as feminism and gender equality. The #MeToo movement has garnered more than 8 million Tweets from Twitter users in more than 67 countries since it first started sweeping across the world in October 2017.

 

Twitter can also be used to elevate and amplify the voices of women around the world, bringing women together to inspire and empower each other. Many people have taken to Twitter to share their stories with the #SheInspiresMe hashtag. These are the women most Tweeted about with this hashtag:

 

●        Mom

 

●        Every woman [who...]

 

●        Lady Gaga (@ladygaga)

 

●        Malala Yousafzai (@malala)

 

●        Michelle Obama (@michelleobama)

 

In honor of International Women's Day 2018, Twitter has launched a special golden emoji in the shape of the female gender symbol as a tribute to the modern woman who is confident and expressive. Available throughout the month of March, the emoji will appear when the following English and Asian-language hashtags are used in Tweets:

 

●        English: #IWD2018, #InternationalWomensDay, #WomensDay, #SheInspiresMe, #PositionOfStrength

 

●        Japanese: #国際女性デー, #女性史月間

 

●        Bahasa Indonesian: #HariPerempuanSedunia, #HariPerempuanInternasional

 

●        Bahasa Malaysian: #HariWanitaAntarabangsa

 

●        Thai: #วันสตรีสากล

 

●        Filipino: #ArawNgKababaihan

 

●        Korean: #세계여성의날

 

●        Simplified/Traditional Chinese: #国际妇女节, #國際婦女節

 

●        Hindi: #महिलादिवस, #हमसेहैहिम्मत, #नारीशक्ति

 

Celebrating International Women's Day on Twitter in APAC

 

In celebration of International Women's Day, Twitter presents a series of activities across the Asia Pacific region from 7-10 March to highlight inspiring stories of women and allow more people to join the #IWD2018 conversation throughout the week.

 

From community events to live Q&A sessions on Twitter, women leaders in the fields of entertainment, media, music, politics, technology and sports across the region will speak about who inspired them, answer questions from fans, and spur more women around the region to be an inspiration to those around them. 

 

Join Twitter now, follow the accounts below, watch the live broadcasts, and have your voice heard this week to celebrate International Women's Day 2018!

 

AUSTRALIA

 

#SheStarts Breakfast: Breaking through the Coded Ceiling

 

7 March, 8:45AM AEDT

 

Follow and watch live at @shestarts

 

The global startup landscape has long been dominated by men with women making up less than one in four tech startup founders. But in Australia's growing tech startup space there is an increasing number of female leaders breaking the mould. 

 

On the eve of International Women's Day, we will shine a light on the new wave of non-technical founders changing the ratio for women in tech and proving you don't have to be an expert coder to launch a global tech company. 

 

Co-hosted by Twitter Australia Managing Director Suzy Nicoletti (@SuzyNicoletti) and SheStarts Director Nicola Hazell (@nic_hazell), the event will also feature a panel of game-changing female founders including Claire Jenkins (@DrClaireJenkins), CEO and Co-Founder of Vetchat (@vetchatau), and Kelly Slessor (@Kelly_Slessor), CEO and Founder of Shop You (@ShopYou_).

 

#CelebratingWomen #BlueRoom with Dr. Kirstin Ferguson

 

8 March, 10:00AM AEDT

 

Follow @TwitterAU and submit questions by Tweeting with #AskKirstin hashtag

 

At the start of 2017, Dr Kirstin Ferguson wrote an opinion piece for Women's Agenda suggesting we needed to see less denigration and more celebration of women online.

 

The article led to Kirstin to create #CelebratingWomen, a project where she committed to sharing the profiles of two women, from anywhere in the world and from all walks of life, every single day in 2017. By the end of the year she celebrated more than 700 women from more than 25 countries around the world. 

 

To celebrate #IWD2018, Kirstin will be joining us in the @TwitterAU office for a look back on #CelebratingWomen a year on and to answer Twitter questions on this amazing campaign.

 

INDIA

 

#PositionOfStrength event with Youth Ki Awaaz

 

7 March, 5:00PM IST

 

Follow and watch live at @YouthKiAwaaz and submit questions via #PositionOfStrength and #हमसेहैहिम्मत hashtags.

 

#PositionOfStrength is a movement to engage and empower women online while educating them on how to use Twitter as a platform to build a profile, have a voice, and create their own unique and influential personal brand. 

 

Twitter launched the #PositionOfStrength initiative in March 2015 for women to learn how to use the platform safely with confidence, and to network with other career-minded women.

 

Twitter India and Youth Ki Awaaz (@YouthKiAwaaz) are hosting the 4th edition of #PositionOfStrength to celebrate Women's Day and bring together powerful voices bridging the gender divide in India - both online and offline. Through panel discussions and engaging talks, the event will engage with over 150 young people offline, and thousands online, to talk about women-led movements and the power of speaking up.

 

Speakers include journalist Barkha Dutt (@BDUTT), MP Meenakshi Lekhi (@M_Lekhi), DCW Chief Swati Maliwal (@SwatiJaiHind), 'Lipstick Under My Burkha' actor Aahana Kumra (@AahanaKumra), talk show host Richa Anirudh (@richaanirudh), Anju Singh and Beena Pallical (@sitara1) from NCDHR, SheThePeople TV Founder Shaili Chopra (@shailichopra), among others.

 

INDONESIA

 

#SheInspiresMe Q&A with Tunggal Pawestri, Head of HIVOS  

 

8 March, 4:00PM JKT

 

Follow @tunggalp and submit questions by Tweeting to @tunggalp using #SheInspiresMe hashtag

 

Tunggal Pawestri is a feminist activist for women's rights and sexual rights and diversity. She is currently working as a consultant for an International Development Organization based in Jakarta, Indonesia, focusing on gender equality, sexual rights, and diversity issues. 

 

Tunggal is currently developing a resource pool of women called "Women Unlimited" in Indonesia to ensure more women representation in the public debates and leadership, and is also managing projects related to LGBT rights issues, as well as working with religious leaders on gender and sexual diversity.

 

#SheInspiresMe Q&A with Dhyta Caturani, Feminist Activist

 

9 March, 4:00PM JKT

 

Follow @purplerebel and submit questions by Tweeting to @purplerebel using #SheInspiresMe hashtag

 

Dhyta Caturani is a feminist activist working on issues related to human rights, social justice, civil liberties, sexuality, women's rights, and violence against women. 

 

Previously as a Project Coordinator at EngageMedia, she focused on the use of alternative media and technology within social movements to create positive and ethical change. She has co-founded a number of collectives and is currently organizing a group of women activists and technologists to work together on issues of gender, sexuality, and technology called PurpleCode.

 

#SheInspiresMe Q&A with Febriana Firdaus, Investigative Journalist

 

10 March, 4:00PM JKT

 

Follow @febrofirdaus and submit questions by Tweeting to @febrofirdaus using #SheInspiresMe hashtag

 

Febriana Firdaus is a freelance investigative journalist based in Jakarta, Indonesia, reporting on politics, corruption, human and LGBT rights, and terrorism for Indonesian and international media outlets. She previously worked at TEMPO (online, newspaper, magazine). 

 

Currently, a freelancer focus on in-depth reporting and investigation, her byline appeared in TIME, BBC Indonesia, Jakarta Post, VICE Indonesia, etc. She also writes analysis and opinion for DW Indonesia, New Mandala, The Interpreter Magazine, etc. She also teaches a human rights journalism and gender issue seminar to activists, writers, and young journalists in remote islands in Indonesia.

 

PHILIPPINES

 

#SheInspiresMe Q&A with Maria Ressa, CEO of Rappler

 

8 March, 3:00PM PHT

 

Follow @mariaressa and submit questions by Tweeting to @mariaressa using #SheInspiresMe hashtag

 

Maria Ressa is the founder and CEO of Rappler, a leading online news website in Philippines. Maria has been a journalist in Asia for more than 25 years, most of them as CNN's bureau chief in Manila then Jakarta. 

 

 

She has won various notable awards for her works in journalism: Overseas Press Club Award for Best Documentary, the National Headliner Award for Investigative Journalism, an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Investigative Journalism, the Asian Television Awards, TOWNS -- Ten Outstanding Women in the Nation's Service (Philippines) and TOYM Philippines.

 

Despite documenting some of the worst disasters and uprisings in Southeast Asia, she believes in the goodness of human nature and in the transformative powers of media and technology.

 

SINGAPORE

 

#SheInspiresMe Q&A with Angela Lee, Mixed martial artist

 

8 March, 11:00AM SGT

 

Follow @angelaleemma and submit questions by Tweeting to @angelaleemma using #SheInspiresMe hashtag

 

Angela Lee made her professional debut under the ONE Championship banner in May 2015, joined the Singapore-based Evolve Fight Team later that year and racked up five consecutive wins, including claiming the inaugural ONE Women's Atomweight World Championship in May 2016. She is a two-time World Pankration Champion, a 2013 Hawaii State Wrestling Champion, and a brown belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

 

#SheInspiresMe Q&A with Tabitha Nauser, Pop/R&B singer

 

8 March, 2:00PM SGT

 

Follow @tabithanauser and submit questions by Tweeting to @tabithanauser using #SheInspiresMe hashtag

 

Tabitha Nauser is a singer and a performing artist. Her debut single 'Bulletproof' peaked at #1 in early 2017 on the Spotify SG Viral 50 chart and #4 on iTunes SG Top chart for all genres. 

 

She released her second single 'Body Language' featuring Malaysian rapper SonaOne in September 2017, finding chart success in Singapore, Malaysia as well as Indonesia, and she is set to release her debut EP in 2018.

 

Tabitha has also performed numerous times in theatre, including the Esplanade's 10th Anniversary Celebrations' musical, National Broadway Company, a remake of Dick Lee's Hotpants, and also the musical RENT.

 

SOUTH KOREA

 

#SheInspiresMe Q&A with Jin Sunmi, National Assemblywoman

 

8 March, 10:00AM KST

 

Follow @sunmee_jin and submit questions by Tweeting to @sunmee_jin using #세계여성의날 #진선미 (Jin Sunmee) hashtags

 

National Assemblywoman Jin Sunmee is a prominent human rights lawyer, who has long championed women's empowerment in South Korea. She was at the forefront of abolishing the 'hoju' system, in which only men were formally designated as the legal head of family in the national register system. Through her legislative efforts, she was awarded the Gender Equality Didim Award from Korean Women's Association United in 2006 and a Female Leader Award from Women News. 

 

Assemblywoman Jin is also a vocal advocate of issues such as legalization of same-sex marriage, online safety for women, and personal information protection.

 

#SheInspiresMe Q&A with Ko Mikyung, Leader of Korea Women's Hotline

 

8 March, 2:00PM KST

 

Follow @kwhotline  and submit questions by Tweeting @kwhotline using #세계여성의날 #고미경 (Ko Mikyung) or #한국여성의전화 (KR women's hotline) hashtags

 

Ko Mikyung is the co-representative of the Korea Women's Hotline, which is the nation's first NGO dedicated to protecting victims of sexual and domestic violence. 

 

The Korea Women's Hotline currently runs over 200 nation-wide counseling centers to provide shelter, self-defense trainings, and education to victims, educators, and migrant women; holds women's rights film festivals; and campaigns extensively for legislative changes geared towards gender equality.

 

Ms. Ko has extensive career promoting women's rights, non-violence, and safety, having served as the head of Korea Sexual Violence Counseling Center and Vice Chairman of the Child and Women Safety Area Alliance.  (MOR/riauone).