A team of four Google employees has developed a new set of emojis aimed at promoting gender equality in the workplace. The 13 designs, which include both male and female versions, depict "a wide range of professions for women and men, with a goal of highlighting the diversity of women's careers and empowering girls everywhere."
The emojis were submitted to the Unicode Consortium – the organization that oversees the creation of new emojis - on Tuesday at its quarterly meeting. They show a range of professions, including healthcare workers, technology industry employees, scientists, and even a Bowie-inspired rockstar.
The team consists of Rachel Been, Augustin Fonts, Nicole Bleuel, and Mark Davis, who is also co-founder and president of the Unicode Consortium. “We believe this will empower young women (the heaviest emoji users), and better reflect the pivotal roles women play in the world,” the proposal explains.
According to emotional marketing platform Emogi's 2015 Emoji Report, 92 percent of online consumers use emojis. It also states that 78 percent of women are frequent emoji users, compared to just 60 percent of men.
There has been criticism over the lack of diversity available in the emoji images. Unicode addressed some of these concerned last year when it introduced a wider range of skin tones and same-sex emojis.
Speaking to the Guardian, Emojipedia founder and member of the Unicode Consortium, Jeremy Burge, said the proposal could be implemented quite quickly as it was “pragmatic from an encoding point of view.”
Unicode was also asked to consider another new emoji this week. In an open letter to the Consortium, Durex has asked for its own condom emoji design to be introduced, which it says will empower young people to talk openly about protection.
https://www.techspot.com/news/64780-google-suggests-new-set-emojis-promote-gender-equality.html
