Who doesn’t love emojis? After all sometimes you can sum up an entire day, heck an entire week, with a sad face, wine and a dancing lady. But when it comes to emojis representing diversity they have definitely fallen behind. However, progress did start to get made this year when a group at Google proposed adding 13 emojis to represent women, and their male counterparts, in professional roles. In their proposal the Google employees cited the United Nations’ mandate for gender equality, Hillary Clinton’s run for President and the U.S. Treasury Department’s announcing that Harriet Tubman will appear on the $20 bill. “No matter where you look, women are gaining visibility and recognition as never before. Isn’t it time that emoji also reflect the reality that women play a key role in every walk of life and in every profession?” the Google group wrote.
And now women are finally going to get the emoji representation they deserve for all the different fitness activities they do. Apple just announced its iOS 10, which will be available for a free download on iPads and iPhones this fall, will feature more than 100 new emojis including more female professionals and athletes, more diverse depictions of families and more representations of women working out. There will be female runners, cyclists, and swimmers as well as a woman golfing, canoeing, surfing, and playing basketball because, you know what, we do all those things. Too bad we won’t have them in time for the Olympics, which kick off with the opening ceremonies tonight, as we know we will be texting about all the fierce female athletes.
