The widespread use of smartphones has ensured that emojis have gradually become a large part of how we communicate with each other. It also influences how we perceive ideas in a certain way. This has led a 15-year-old high school student to propose the inclusion of a hijabi emoji to represent girls who like herself choose to wear headscarves in the context of digital conversations.
Rayouf Alhumedhi, who lives in Berlin but is originally from Saudi Arabia, is the lead author on a new proposal for a hijabi emoji to the Unicode Consortium, which a non-profit that is in charge of the creation and approval of emoji. "I wanted something to represent me, alongside the millions of women who wear the headscarf every day, and pride themselves on wearing the headscarf," she told the Washington Post in a Skype interview.
In one section of her proposal, Alhumedhi also outlined different possible meanings that this hijabi emoji could stand for in her proposal:
"- Women wear headscarves across many religions as a sign of modesty, including parts of Christianity and Judaism.
"- This emoji can convey religious feelings.
"- This emoji can represent Ramadan, Eid and any religious celebrations.
"- Women with cancer sometimes like to wear a headscarf; this emoji could come to hand.
"- Or simply a woman that enjoys wearing a headscarf."
"People want to be acknowledged... and recognised, especially in the tech world. This is massive. Emojis are everywhere,” BBC quoted her as saying. Alhumedhi's proposal could be taken into formal consideration as early as this November.
