In a step towards promoting better gender diversity and less violence, Apple news has announced that over 100 redesigned emojis will be available from this September as part of its iOS 10 operating system.

The update will include an increased number of female characters in stereotypically male jobs, and vice versa — including female construction workers, swimmers, detectives and police offers, and male versions of the dancing, massaging and haircut emoji.

Apple is introducing new emojis to promote better gender diversity| ELLE UKpinterest
APPLE

In addition, the pistol emoji will be replaced with a green water pistol in wake of gun violence, a rainbow flag will be introduced to support same-sex marriage and more family options will be available.

Apple is introducing new emojis to promote better gender diversity | ELLE UKpinterest
Apple

'Apple is working closely with the Unicode Consortium to ensure that popular emoji characters reflect the diversity of people everywhere,' the company wrote in a statement.

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Unsah Malik
Social Media Manager
Unsah Malik joined team ELLE as the Social Media Manager after working on the social media teams at E! Entertainment UK and The Guardian. She loves traveling, reality TV (#SorryNotSorry), and to edit pictures a pretty shade of pink before uploading them to her Instagram feed.