One of the greatest things about social media is its power to drive awareness of important global issues. Hashtag activism is growing in popularity and women’s rights appear to be one of the hottest campaign issues.
There are so many examples of sisterhood hashtag activism. One of the most publicized in the Western world is #LeanIn, which encourages professional women to share their stories of workplace challenges and to inspire one another to succeed.
Whilst I appreciate any supportive movement like this, I feel that there are far more important women’s issues that need to be shouted about louder.
For example, the horrors that some females face in other countries. Many of us will have heard about the recent #BringBackOurGirls campaign, which followed the barbaric kidnapping of 300 Nigerian school girls by the terrorist group Boko Haram. First Lady Michelle Obama got behind the campaign by tweeting the hashtag and was swiftly followed by hundreds of thousands of people, including countless high-profile celebrities.
And just this week, the #YesAllWomen movement emerged in response to the misogynistic manifesto written by the man who killed six people in Santa Barbara. As I read through the tweets from users highlighting how sexism has impacted their lives, it was incredible to watch a protest unfold on social media. The tweets – and the negative, ‘troll’ like response of some users using the hashtag #NoAllWomen – demonstrates that we still have a long way to go to achieve global equality.
Will such hashtag activism lead to change? We can only hope. For now, at least it gives many more of us a voice.
