County Durham teen who ran Hillary Clinton's Instagram 'empowered'

Lois, 19, was given access to Hillary Clinton's social media account on 11 October

A teenager said she felt "empowered" when she took over Hillary Clinton's Instagram to discuss feminism.

Lois, 19, was given access to the former US presidential candidate's social media account, which has six million followers, on 11 October.

In a video, Lois, who is from County Durham, said that the fight for gender equality was "far from over".

It comes as 20 girls took over roles of power in business, politics and media to mark International Day of the Girl.

Day of the Girl is a day to help educate and bring attention to girls' rights and the challenges that girls face around the world.

Lois teamed up with another teenager from the US for the Instagram account takeover with the aim of championing gender equality, showing support for girls and women from different global communities and highlighting the importance of young activists.

Ms Clinton introduced the young women in a post, which said "it fills me with pride when I see girls taking action on the issues they care about".

Ms Clinton introduced the young women in an Insta story, which lasts 24 hours

She said in the video: "If anyone tries to tell you that feminism is no longer needed, that is the furthest thing from the truth. The fight is far from over."

Ms Clinton's great-grandfather Jonathan Rodham worked in the mines of County Durham countryside before he moved his family to Pennsylvania.

• International Day of the Girl: What's it all about?

• Hillary Clinton's English mining roots

Lois said she would "never have thought that a young, working-class girl from the north-east of England would have ever been able to do something like this".

"It's really empowering," she added.

"It's important that young women are given the tools and resources to use our voices and be given platforms to talk about things that directly affect us. Because at the end of the day, they are affecting us and who knows better about the experiences of women and girls, than women and girls themselves," Lois said.

'Inspiring takeover'

Other temporary takeovers included Emily Eavis's role as co-organiser of Glastonbury Festival, Andy Burnham's position as Mayor of Manchester and Misan Harriman's role as chair of London's Southbank Centre.

Rose Caldwell, Plan International UK's chief executive, said the takeover was an "inspiring celebration of the incredible potential of girls".

"The talent, ideas and strength of girls has the power to change the world. But change isn't coming fast enough and girls tell us they have had enough of the empty rhetoric," Ms Caldwell said.