Emoji equality: Useless trend or meaningful push to encourage diversity?

To some, it may seem trivial to care about the deeper meaning of emoji.The popular cartoonish icons are often usedas nothing more than a lighthearted additionto a text or online message.

But to others, like Aly Pirbay, 15, it's actually a big deal that tech companies like Apple and Google are trying to ensurepeople from all different backgrounds cansee images that represent who they are among therows of random objects,facial expressions, hand signals, smiling poop and crying kitties.

"I think that it's great with the recent change of skin tones and putting gender equality and including these new different things [in emoji]," Pirbay told CBC News.

The latest push for emoji equality comes from Google. The internet giant recently announced it will introduceseveral newemoji to represent women working diverse careers.

"While there's a huge range of emoji, there aren't a lot that highlight the diversity of women's careers or empower young girls," Google said in astatement.

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In May,Google proposed the creation of gender-inclusive career emoji to theUnicode Consortium, the non-profit organization that decides what new emoji will be available.

Google did so after critics spoke out about the lack of emoji representing professional women.

Feminine hygiene brand Alwayslaunched an online campaign for new characters that don'tlimit women to stereotypical female roles.

Amy Butcher, an author and assistant professor of English at Ohio Wesleyan University, wrote an op-ed for the New York Timesabout the problem back in March.

"Yes, there were women's faces, and tiny women's bodies. But for the women actually engaged in an activity or profession, there were only archetypes: the flamenco dancer in her red gown, the bride in her flowing veil, the princess in her gold tiara," she said.

Unicode responded to the appealson July14 when itannouncedits approval of 11 of Google's 13 proposed designs.

A femaledoctor, scientist, welder and mechanic are just a few of the newimages.The new professional emojiwill be available in a variety of skin tones andin male versions, too. However, it is still not known when these emoji will be available on our devices.Unicode will also addmale and female versions of33 existing emoji.

Made up of individual and corporate members,Unicodeapproves new emoji andstandardizestheir encoding fordifferent operating systems.

Once it approves a new emoji,Unicodeprovidesthe unique code that allowscompanies like Apple andGooglethe option of offeringthe image on their devices.

Mixed reactions

Like most topics, Google'slatest emojiannouncement drew a mixed reaction on social media. Many applauded Google and Unicode for promoting equality.

"I think it's great"AimeMorrison, a professor at the University of Waterloo specializing in new media studies, told CBC News.

"There is such a rich set of emoji by many different ways of counting, but from the beginning there have been a really limited number of deliberately female emoji and among that limited number they have tended to be really stereotyped," she said.

But others criticizedthe announcement, with many questioning whether emoji diversity matters at all.

Do emojimatter?

Many of the naysayersfeelthere is too much political correctness surrounding the tiny keyboard icons that most people just use for fun while texting. After all,how serious can a set of characters that include a winking faceand cute monkeysactually be?

But based on the amount of public pressure for greater emojidiversity, it'sclear many people believe this isa serious matter.

In April2015, Apple introduced emoji with different skin tonesfor the iPhonefollowing criticism from users thatthe characters depicting peoplewere too white.

Before the Appleupdate, there were only two visibly diverse emoji: a brown man wearing a turban and an Asianman wearing a cap.

Now, iPhone users have the option to choose between six different skin-tone modifiers for variousemoji characters.

Same-sex families were also added to Apple's emoji update.

Jeremy Burge,founder ofEmojipedia,an online database and emoji dictionary, thinks emoji diversity is important.

"I think that if you restrict the emoji choices that can be detrimental to somebody who can't represent themselves in emoji," he said.

A work in progress

But there's still a ways to goto achieving emoji equality.

Scope,a UK-based disability charity,released 18 emoji designs representing people with disabilities and Paralympic sports.

Currently, the only emojito represent disabilities is thewheelchair user sign.

"We think this isn't good enough," Scope said in an statement. "So we hope that our 18 emoji designs will inspire Unicode... to represent disabled people in a positive way."

LGBTQ advocates have been calling for a gay-pride flag emoji and a formal proposal for the symbolwas sent to Unicode on July 19.

According to Emojipedia, otherhighly requestedemoji designsinclude interracial couples and families, single-parent families anda woman with a hijab.

Youngsterscare

Google's addition of professional women to the pictoriallanguage seems to be a hit with youngsters who spoke with CBC News.

HopeBarrocks, 9,says she would use the new emoji.

"It's pretty cool," she said. "They are inspiring women and girls to be whatever they want to be."

HayleyKadak, 16, and her pal Mackenzie Marshall,15, both avid users of emoji, also gave Google's new icons a positive review.

"I think they are good for us as women. Because it shows that women are evolving," Marshall told CBC News. "I guess I'm notlikea feminist oranything, but I do care about that stuff."