This is what the new emojis showing women with actual jobs could look like
- Posted by
- Anya Meyerowitz
- Published
After Apple confirmed this month that it would be releasing Unicode's new emojis, keen smartphone users have been given a first look at what the new, more gender-balanced offering could look like.
The draft images, released by Unicode, include female lecturers, farmers and scientists and have been designed to address the conspicuous lack of professional women in previous sets.
Unicode released an accompanying report on reducing gender inequality, saying: “[We hope] that a new set of emoji that represents a wide range of professions for women and men [will] highlight the diversity of women’s careers and empower girls everywhere”.
The original emoji keyboard has limited options for women
The Emoji 4.0 update is set to land in November and comes after an announcement earlier this year confirming the new characters, followed by a statement from Apple that it would officially launch it with its new software.
Previously, despite there being more than 1,850 characters supported across various platforms, women have been stuck with identifying themselves as a dancer, sassy pink lady or bride. Oh, or a set of bizarre twins who resemble Playboy bunnies.
🍏 Apple requests five new emoji professions: Artist, Firefighter, Pilot, Astronaut, Judge https://t.co/rEEHdhOFiK pic.twitter.com/aFzpS0k1zj
— Emojipedia 📙 (@Emojipedia) August 24, 2016
Initially, tech giant Apple requested five emojis – artist, firefighter, pilot, astronaut and judge – but the update is also set to include female versions of existing male-gendered emojis, the rainbow flag and further food options.
Though it admittedly doesn’t cover every profession it does attempt to bridge the gap between male and female representation on the keyboard.
It will also include brand new facial expressions such as the infamous ‘lying face’ as well as various hobby emojis like boxing, wrestling and our favourite pastime, cartwheeling. You can see the full range of additional emojis here.
Feature image credit: emojipedia