First things first, the draft 2017 emoji list has been finalized. Here’s the official list (follow the link and search for “2017 Emoji List”).

Part of the evolution of emoji is the portrayal of gender. To truly understand the newest emoji, read the excellent What is Gender and and Why Does it Matter to Emoji?, which does an excellent job telling the story of emoji and its history with gender.

From the post:

Filling out the middle of the spectrum, we have a set of three new people emoji with inclusive gender, characters that were conceived to represent all people regardless of gender.

These emoji are intended to depict a child, an adult, and an older person. I proposed the addition of the gender inclusive emoji characters in order to provide better representation for people who want to express themselves in emoji as exactly that: just people.

Not everyone identifies as male or female. Some of us identify as a bit of both, or neither, or something else altogether. Regardless of your gender identity, I hope we can all find adequate ways to express ourselves in emoji.

And finally, thought you might find it interesting to see an actual proposal for change to the Unicode Consortium, the group that has final say on emoji.