Every year, March 8 is celebrated as International Women’s Day (IWD). While the day has its origins as a tool in politics, it has been ingenuously reaped by all forces of society. Some want basic human rights for women while some want women to be equally empowered as men. The day sees a lot of action, pledges and celebration, but above all it needs to bring about a significant change.
How does one go about doing that? Is there a specific color to wear, a petition to sign or a protest march to attend? I browsed on Twitter and found nothing of value other than to the brands that were promoting them. Happy Women’s Day, #ThingsWomenDobetter, #BreakTheStereoType are trending as I type this. Yesterday, it was #ifThereWereNoWomen and some time back Twitter was flooded with ‘aWomanWants’. Some advertised coupons, while some promoted their nail enamels and lipsticks within carefully planted Twitter hashtags, but nevertheless, these were clever marketing pitches.
I was compelled to dig deeper to find a trend worthy of bringing in change. And, I think ‘#women4change’ was worth talking about.
‘#women4change‘ is an idea by Milaap, a peer-to-peer microlending social venture. Milaap is inviting nominations for women who have inspired you. All one has to do is tweet the nomination along with the hashtag #women4change and Milaap will gift her a $25 gift card which she can then lend to a rural woman entrepreneur of her choice on the Milaap website.
Milaap has always been keen about reaching out through social media. A few days back, the social enterprise joined hands with YourStory for a Twitter chat around womanhood and entrepreneurship. The chat encouraged participants to share stories of women entrepreneurs who are making a difference in society and helping change people’s lives, in addition to nominations. YourStory and Milaap would then go through the chats and decide up to 80 of the best conversations to be rewarded with the $25 gift card.
There are cool updates on the Facebook page of Milaap, calling for participation in the same.
It is not a contest so it will not trend, but I think it has the potential to bring about a long term change. While digital marketers are striving to trend their clients’ products this Women’s Day, Milaap gives you a reason to celebrate the day.