A group from Google is asking the makers behind emojis to consider increasing the representation of female professionals in their roster, such as a scientist or assembly line worker.
In a letter to Unicode, the organization that oversees the creation and use of emojis, Google said it wants to 鈥渋ncrease the representation of women in emoji and would like to propose that Unicode implementers do the same.鈥�
Google is proposing the addition of and their male counterparts, which would represent jobs in the fields such as business, healthcare, industry and education.
鈥淕iven the fact that women are the most frequent emoji users, and that they span a wide professional spectrum not yet reflected in current emojis, we want to help address this pressing matter of equality,鈥� Google said in its proposal.
Google is not the first to note the lack of professional or athletic 鈥渇emale鈥� emojis available on mobile phones and other software. The female emojis readily available typically show women putting on nailpolish, getting a haircut or dancing, while icons depicting professions or sports are typically portrayed in male form.
Other large corporation have recently raised the issue of gender disparity among emojis.
Earlier this year, brand Always launched the campaign, which aims to move away from stereotypical images of women.
In a video created for the campaign, young girls of varying ages and backgrounds indicated that they felt underrepresented in their emoji choice, and said they鈥檇 like to see female emojis as lawyers, archers and drummers, to name a few.
Raise your hand if you are ready for emoji that represent all we can do ! ���� We agree
鈥� Always (@Always)
In the letter, Google said women are gaining visibility and recognition 鈥渁s never before.
鈥淚sn鈥檛 it time that emoji also reflect the reality that women play a key role in every walk of life and in every profession?鈥�
Google said it wants to see the proposed female emojis standardized by the end of 2016.
