Unicode to Release 16 New Professional Gendered Emojis in November

Unicode has decided to release a new Emoji 4.0 update. It has unveiled a draft that consists of 16 new emojis based on different professions representing both genders. These emojis have been proposed by Apple and Google, and include professions from a judge to an astronaut. The draft will be reviewed till October 24, and the Emoji 4.0 update will be released sometime in November.

As mentioned, Unicode made this decision after Apple and Google's suggestions and the proposed draft includes 16 new emojis (32 in total when including the male and female versions). The new emojis represent different professions like a health worker, judge, pilot, farmer, cook, student, singer, artist, teacher, factory worker, technologist, office worker, mechanic, scientist, astronaut, and firefighter.

Apple proposed five professional emojis like firefighter, artist, pilot, astronaut, and judge. Google had also proposed other professional emojis back in May. New gendered emojis of previously existing ones were also unveiled, including information desk man, guardswoman, female runner, female police officer, and men with bunny ears. Emojipedia notes these have already made their way to the iOS 10 beta despite still being in a draft stage.

The new update also has the Rainbow flag, and the United Nations flag. Unicode is also considering the promotion of three characters into proper emojis. These include the female sign, male sign, and the Staff of Aesculapius.

Unicode notes that two character emojis need to have a similar skin tone as they are built on a single code. For this purpose, ten new emojis are being considered for skin tone modification. These include women with bunny ears, man and woman holding hands, two women holding hands, two men holding hands, wrestlers, snowboarder, golfer, sleeping accommodation, man in business suit levitating, and family emoji.

With iOS 10, Apple is releasing as many as 100 new emojis. The new redesigned Apple emojis include more representation of professional women, and even a water gun.