Pregnant man among new emojis proposed for launch

16 July 2021, 17:47

A pregnant man is among the new emojis proposed for launch later this year by the icons’ oversight organisation, the Unicode Consortium.

The list of icons, published ahead of World Emoji Day on Saturday, also includes a pregnant person and a person with a crown icon, as part of efforts to further boost the gender-inclusive nature of emojis.

Emojipedia, the reference website and a voting member of the Unicode Consortium, said the new pregnant emojis recognise "that pregnancy is possible for some transgender men and non-binary people".

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The final list of approved emojis will be announced in September as part of Emoji 14.0 and is expected to roll out to the public in 2022.

"It is yet to be confirmed which emojis are in the final version of Emoji 14.0. The final version is likely to resemble this draft list, and no new emojis will be added at this stage," Emojipedia said.

"But there's always a remote possibility of a change or removal ahead of September."

Developers said the proposals would mean gender-neutral versions of almost every emoji would be available.

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Also on the list is a multi-racial handshake, which allows users to choose a range of skin tones for both hands to further improve race representation in the icons, and a coral icon, which Emojipedia said is a common symbol around the discussion of climate change.

The plans also include a number of new versions of the popular yellow face emoji, including a melting face, saluting face, the face holding back tears and a face that cannot bear to watch.

A low battery, identification card, a mirror ball and biting lip icons also appear on the list.