Cii Radio| Ayesha Ismail| 15 September 2016| 13 Zhul Hijjah 1437
Dubai: A Saudi teenager living in Germany has proposed designing a headscarf emoji.
In an interview with the BBC, Rayouf Al Humedhi, 15, said she has sent a proposal to The Unicode Consortium, a non-profit corporation that reviews and develops new emojis.
The idea gained the backing of the co-founder of online discussion forum Reddit, Alexis Ohanian. If approved, her emoji will be available in 2017.
Al Humedhi said she come up with the idea during a group chat with her friends after realising there was no emoji that looks like her.
After reading an article on emoji design, she wrote an email about her idea to Unicode.
Intrigued, a member of a Unicode subcommittee replied, offering to help her draft a formal proposal.
“In this day and age, representation is extremely important,” she said of her reasons behind the project.
“People want to be acknowledged… and recognised, especially in the tech world. This is massive. Emojis are everywhere.
“There are so many Muslim women in this world who wear the headscarf. It might seem trivial… but it’s different when you see yourself on the keyboard around the world. Once you experience that, it’s really great.”
The drafting committee hopes to present a final version of the proposal to Unicode in November.
The proposal comes as European countries grapple with whether the Muslim veil should be accepted in society.
Wearing hijab has been swept up into the larger debate about multiculturalism in Europe as many politicians believe ethnic and religious minorities should assimilate.
Source – Gulf News
