By Tanya Manglik
When emojis first came out, I dismissed the hoopla around it. I mean, yeah, I can finally respond to, “What’s for dinner?” with a pizza emoji, and in the time I find it, I could’ve easily typed “Pizza”. But these new emojis that celebrate gender equality makes all the time lost in finding them worth it. They’re fresh and fabulous, and the much-needed representation for women in different career fields has finally been addressed. Small steps go a long way (insert dancer emoji)!
Emotional Marketing Platform Emogi’s 2015 report on emoji use has shown that around 92% of the online population uses emojis in their day-to-day communication. The study also found that women are more frequent users of emojis than men, and according to the report, consumers use them because they emojis help accurately express what they’re thinking.
In light of this fact, it’s quite surprising that there aren’t many emojis that depict the diversity of women’s careers and jobs. The current ones only have a few women, in roles such as that of a princess, a bride, or getting their hair cut.
Google realised that these emojis aren’t representative, and proposed a set of new emojis to the Unicode Technical Committee, that represent a wider range of professions for women (as well as men). Today, the Unicode Emoji Subcommittee agreed to include 11 new emojis that display a wide range of professions, like scientists, rockstars, and even coders, and you can choose between male and female characters, along with different skin-tones to represent diversity of race. Unicode also plans to add both male and female versions to 33 existing emojis. This means that you can now even choose a female cycler instead of being restricted by a male cycler.
Google said on its blog:
“These new emoji are one of several efforts we’re making to better represent women in technology, and to connect girls with the education and resources they need to pursue careers in STEM. One such effort is Made with Code, which helps girls pursue and express their passions using computer science. Ahead of World Emoji Day this weekend, Made with Code is releasing a new project that teaches coding skills through the creation of emoji-inspired stickers.”
Have fun being a coder and rockstar, instead of a princess!