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International Women’s Day 2018

March 8, 2018 — by

Today is International Women’s Day, a worldwide event which celebrates all women’s achievements and acts as a catalyst for change in regards to gender equality. The day has been celebrated since 1909, when the first National Women’s Day was celebrated on the 28th February in the United States. Today it is a rallying point to build support for women’s rights and participation in the social, political and economic arenas. It is not affiliated with any one group, but brings together governments, women’s organisations, corporations and charities.

This year the theme of International Women’s Day is #PressForProgress. This movement came from findings in a report from the World Economic Forum in 2017 telling the world that gender parity is over 200 years away. There is a strong call to motivate and unite friends, colleagues and communities to think, act and be gender inclusive. This year’s #PressForProgress sponsor is EY, a professional service firm providing assurance, tax, consulting and advisory services to companies.

Since Monday 5th March 2018 we have been collecting a sample of worldwide tweets focusing on the keywords #PressForProgress and #IWD2018, and tweets centered around the phrase ‘International Women’s Day”. At the time of going to press we have collected over 110,000 tweets with an overall sentiment of 53% positive tweets ( 6% negative, 41% neutral).

Some of the most talked about topics in this campaign are, as expected, #IWD2018 and #PressForProgress, however #TimeIsNow and ‘Gender Equality’ were also high in the topics. #TimeIsNow got over 4,100 mentions in our sample data, providing us with 4% of total tweets. Users were using the hashtag to indicate a time for change in different areas of equality. Nicolaj Coster-Waldau used the hashtag to show forced marriages and ask for change, and his tweet gained over 450 retweets and nearly 1,600 likes. ‘Gender Equality’ got a total of over 2,700 mentions in our sample data, and is 2.5% of total tweets. The term appears in many tweets with other hashtags, like #TimeIsNow and #MeToo. Sadiq Khan used the term to remind his followers that the fight for true gender equality is not finished, and what he as Mayor of London will do to help that.

A total of 29% of our sample data comprises of emotion-bearing tweets. “Happiness” is the most common emotion followed by “love”, with 62% and 19% of all emotion-bearing tweets respectively.

Words and emojis such as ‘excited’, ‘congratulations’ and ‘🙌’ were all trending within the ‘happiness’ category, and unsurprisingly the most common happiness-word was ‘happy’, which comprised 79% of all tweets in the ‘happiness’ category.

The highest trending emotion-bearing word in the ‘love’ category is ‘love’ itself, covering 33% of all tweets in the ‘love’ category. Words and emojis such as ‘😘’, ‘lovely’ and ‘beautiful’ are all popular in the ‘love’ category.

It is unsurprising that so many large influencers are talking about International Women’s Day, as it is a worldwide event. CNN is the largest verified influencer, with over 39.6 Million followers.

Another large influencer is Sagarika Ghose, who contributed 4 times and has 3.8 Million followers.

There has also been a lot of engagement surrounding International Women’s Day, with @Barbie getting over 6,800 likes and over 3,300 retweets from the following tweet:

@Barbie announced on the 6th of March that they have created a series of Barbie dolls based upon inspirational women. They asked people to join the conversation with #MoreRoleModels and it ties in with their new line of ‘I Can Be’ dolls, ranging from pilot to astronaut.

With so much global conversation we thought we would give you a run-down of the Top 10 Tweeting Countries. This data is comprised of geotagged tweets which make up 64.5% of all our sample data.

In tenth place is South Africa with 1.9% of geotagged tweets. They have 55% positive sentiment (8% negative, 37% neutral), and their top trending emotion is ‘happy’ featuring in 21% of all tweets. One trending topic is #HoldMyBeer, which is being used in conjunction with #IWD2018 as a stand of solidarity against a controversial opinion taken towards Dineo Ranaka, a South African TV presenter, who was told that women shouldn’t drink beer.

A top influencer in South Africa is Karabo Mokgoko, a popular blogger, who tweeted 36 times about International Women’s Day.

In ninth place is Ireland with 2.3% of geotagged tweets. They have 61% positive sentiment (4% negative, 35% neutral), and again their top trending emotion is ‘happy’, featuring in 20% of all tweets. The most prominent trending topics are #RepealThe8th and #VotesForRepeal, which relate to Irish abortion laws. These topics take up 6% of all tweets geotagged in Ireland.

A top contributor in Ireland is Margaret E Ward, the CEO and founder of Clear Ink, who contributed 6 times in our data collection.

In eighth place is Kenya with 2.4% of geotagged tweets. They have 56% positive sentiment (7% negative, 37% neutral), and their top trending emotion is ‘happy’, featuring in 20% of all tweets. The most prominent trending topic is #GirlsNotMothers, relating to the education system in Kenya, and asking for more education for teenagers on sexual health.

A top contributor in Kenya is @YasminTaurai who has contributed 7 times in our data collection to their 7,900 followers.

In seventh place is Nigeria with 2.6% of geotagged tweets. They have 63% positive sentiment (7% negative, 30% neutral), and again their top trending emotion is ‘happy’, featuring in 26% of all tweets. The most prominent trending topic after #PressForProgress and #IWD2018 is #LetsTalkGBV, relating to the Gender Equal Opportunity Bill in Nigeria.

A top contributor in Nigeria is Kori Habib, who has contributed 25 retweets in our data collection.

In sixth place is Canada with 2.7% of geotagged tweets. They have 56% positive sentiment (5% negative, 39% neutral), and their top trending emotion is, again, ‘happy’ which features in 7% of all tweets. The prominent trending topic for Canada is #MyFeminism.

A top contributor from Canada is Greg Johansen, who contributed 11 times in our collected data.

In fifth place is Pakistan with 3.4% of geotagged tweets. They have 37% positive sentiment (5% negative, 58% neutral), and their top trending emotion is ‘happy’, featuring in 5.2% of all tweets. The prominent trending topic is #PPPEmpowersWomen, relating to the Pakistan People’s Party announcing that they would organise rallies to celebrate International Women’s Day.

A top contributor from Pakistan is @FidaShaikhPPP, a journalist for Benazir news, who has contributed 49 times in our data collection.

In fourth place is Australia with 8% of geotagged tweets. They have 58% positive sentiment (8% negative, 34% neutral), and ‘happy’ is their top trending emotion, featuring in 16% of all tweets.

A top contributor from Australia is @SallyRMelb, who has contributed 14 times in our data collection.

In third place is USA with 9.6% of geotagged tweets. They have 55% positive sentiment (6% negative, 39% neutral), and again ‘happy’ is their top trending emotion, featuring in 11% of all tweets. A top trending topic is ‘Barbie’, relating to the dolls barbie has released.

A top contributor from USA is Tanya Guyatt, a writer and blogger, who contributed 6 times in our data.

In second place is India with 14.6% of geotagged tweets. They have 44% positive sentiment (5% negative, 51% neutral), and ‘happy’ is their top trending emotion, featuring in 13% of all tweets. A top trending topic is #TheFirstWoman, relating to the Indian Border Security Force inducting their first female.

A top contributor from India is the official account of ADG Zone Bareilly Police, who have contributed 23 retweets in our data.

In first place is the United Kingdom with 27.9% of geotagged tweets. They have 63% positive sentiment (6% negative, 31% neutral), and again ‘happy’ is the top trending emotion, featuring in 19% of all tweets. An interesting trending topic is #ThisGirlCan, a celebration of active women funded by The National Lottery.

A top contributor is the twitter account for the Women’s March London, who have contributed 16 times in the collected data.

So there you have it, our analysis of what’s been happening on Twitter in the run up to and on International Women’s Day 2018. There’s undoubtedly a sense of happiness and celebration around the day, as women from around the world unite to celebrate the progress that has been made and remind everyone that there is still some way to go before true equality has been achieved!

If you want to find out how we can help you understand the social media story of current affairs, product launches or advertising campaigns, contact Becca at becca@blurrt.co.uk