Hijab emoji widely defended after some said it symbolizes the ‘oppression of women’
Every time Apple announces new emojis, it seems to stir some controversy. Monday was no exception.
The new emojis, which included less controversial figures such as a dinosaur, a zebra, a zombie and a sandwich, also included a woman wearing a hijab. The hijab is a head covering worn around the hair and neck mostly by Muslim women.
That prompted some negative backlash online, but not as much as some people seemed to expect.
the hijab is a symbol of oppression. by including it as an emoji you are showing your support for the oppression of women.
— Joeymp (@joeymp123) July 17, 2017
There should be an emoji to show what happens when the Muslim woman takes off the hijab. #WorldEmojiiDay
— Richard Elder (@rickthe_elder) July 17, 2017
Headscaffs? Lol now that's funny. I guess we shall be seeing explosive vests as back packs next!
— Richard (@1RTFULDODGER) July 17, 2017
But most online reaction to the hijab emoji was positive, with some shooting down the criticism of it.
It's FINALLY here. Best believe I'm overusing this one. #IWantMoreHijabColorsTho #WorldEmojiDay pic.twitter.com/UBR6fawcbG
— Rowaida Abdelaziz (@Rowaida_Abdel) July 17, 2017
THERES GONNA BE A HIJAB EMOJI YAYYY pic.twitter.com/L6fmBqwDSI
— RAEESA (@raenb0w) July 17, 2017
Let's talk about how the people who are mad about the hijab emoji also think that telling people who they can marry is totally fine.
— kayleigh oberbeck (@washedouttown) July 18, 2017
Lol if these crazy people will always try and make things about them. How is the #hijab emoji any of your concern? pic.twitter.com/cutxDCfo9t
— lindani mokgweetsi (@IamLindyM) July 18, 2017
The hijab emoji was proposed by 15-year-old Rayouf Alhumedhi, who said the idea was inspired by a WhatsApp group chat with her friends. The girls had wanted the title of the group to be a series of emojis that looked like them, but Alhumedhi, who wears a hijab, couldn’t find one that resembled her.
“Millions of women wear the headscarf. And not just Muslim women, Orthodox Jews, Orthodox Christians, they pride themselves in wearing it,” Alhumedhi told AJ+. “And there’s a guy wearing the turban, which is great, they represent Sikhs, which is amazing. But why isn’t there a headscarf emoji?”
She first emailed Apple to see if they would fix her problem, but didn’t hear back. So she researched how to send an emoji proposal into Unicode, and spent two days typing up the proposal. Jennifer 8. Lee, a member of the Unicode Emoji Subcommittee, helped her fully develop the proposal, asked Aphee Messe to design it, and got support from Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian.
“I’m pretty sure everyone in the world thinks that emojis are insignificant, it’s just a little thing on your keyboard you use to portray emotions, feelings, yourself,” Alhumedhi said. “But adding different color skin tones, adding different couples, will hopefully promote diversity and tolerance.”
Alhumedhi told AJ+ she was “speechless” that the emoji would actually be on her phone’s keyboard soon.
The new emojis will be available “sometime later this year,” according to Apple.
This story was originally published July 18, 2017 at 8:40 AM with the headline "Hijab emoji widely defended after some said it symbolizes the ‘oppression of women’."