The teenager behind Apple's 'hijab' emoji

NEW DELHI: When Berlin teenager Rayouf Alhumedhi and her friends were creating a group chat on WhatsApp last year, they decided to use emojis rather than names to identify themselves. That's when the hijab-wearing Rayouf realised she had "no emoji to represent me", she told CNN.
That's no longer the case thanks to Rayouf's own efforts. On Monday, Apple acknowledged this need for representation and unveiled a hijab emoji on World Emoji Day, as part of a larger collection of new emoji characters available on Apple devices later this year.
Sixteen-year old Rayouf, who now lives in Vienna, proposed the idea last year to The Unicode Consortium, a non-profit corporation that reviews and develops new emojis.
"The fact that there wasn't an emoji to represent me and the millions of other hijab clad women across the world was baffling to me...I really had no initial idea in my mind of what it was supposed to look like, I just wanted it to be available in different skin tones -- millions of women from different races do wear it," Rayouf said to CNN.
The proposal quickly became popular. Jennifer Lee of the Unicode emoji subcommittee approved the idea and put Rayouf in touch with Aphee Messer, who worked with the teenager to design the emoji.
The co-founder of Reddit, a popular American discussion website Alexis Ohanian also supported the proposal for the hijab emoji and hosted an online discussion for Rayouf to talk about her idea and respond to critics.
Although many people were supportive in the Reddit discussion and other social media platforms, some described the emoji as "unnecessary" and a "part of patriarchal constructs that oppress women." There were mixed reactions even after the official hijab emoji was announced by Apple on Monday.
"The hijab is a symbol of oppression," wrote one person on Twitter, replying to a tweet by Apple's CEO Tim Cook.

Still, some people also tweeted that the emoji is a pro-woman act of representation.
"They are coming out with a woman wearing a hijab and a breastfeeding mom emoji. My faith in humanity is slowly being restored."

Rayouf herself spoke about the debate on her emoji, saying that while it won't "change the world", it was a start.
"Some people will try and pervert it, use the emoji in a hurtful way to perpetuate stereotypes", she said. "But overall, I think the Muslim community will benefit from it. Even if only in terms of representation. It's only an emoji. It's not a game changer. But it will make people happy. I hope so", she added.
The teenager hopes that this representation will in turn lead to more tolerance. She says that once women wearing hijabs, "begin to show up on our phones, that will establish that notion that we are normal people carrying out daily routines just like you," she said last year.
Most of all though, she just wanted an emoji that looks like her.
"I wanted to be represented, as simple as that. I just wanted an emoji of me."
Surprisingly, despite the emoji being named after her, Rayouf had no idea that it was going to become official. She only found out when a friend messaged her on Monday, after Apple's official announcement.