Gender and Identity Symbols

Gender symbols in Unicode have ancient astronomical origins and contemporary importance in representing diverse human identities. From the classical Venus and Mars symbols to modern transgender and non-binary representations, Unicode provides a range of characters for gender expression in text.

Astronomical Origins

The male ♂ and female ♀ symbols predate Unicode by centuries. They originated as alchemical and astronomical symbols representing the planet Mars and the planet Venus respectively:

• ♂ U+2642 MALE SIGN — derived from the symbol for Mars (shield and spear), represents the Roman god of war
• ♀ U+2640 FEMALE SIGN — derived from the symbol for Venus (hand mirror or necklace), represents the Roman goddess of love

The association of Mars with male and Venus with female was formalized in 18th-century botany by Carl Linnaeus, who used them to indicate plant sexes in his taxonomic system. This usage then spread to other scientific and social contexts.

The Transgender Symbol: ⚧ U+26A7

The transgender symbol ⚧ (U+26A7 MALE WITH STROKE AND MALE AND FEMALE SIGN) was added to Unicode 4.1 in 2005. It combines the male and female symbols with a stroke, creating a visual representation of gender crossing conventional binaries.

The symbol ⚧️ (U+26A7 followed by U+FE0F for emoji presentation) was added to the RGI emoji set in Emoji 13.0 (2020), corresponding to the transgender flag emoji 🏳️‍⚧️ being added at the same time. The transgender flag emoji uses a Zero Width Joiner (ZWJ) sequence: 🏳️ + ZWJ + ⚧️.

ZWJ Sequences for Gender-Diverse Emoji

The Zero Width Joiner (U+200D) enables combining base emoji with gender components to create inclusive representations. Modern emoji include explicit gender variants for many human-figure emoji:

Gender-neutral (base form): - 🧑 U+1F9D1 ADULT — gender-neutral base - 🧒 U+1F9D2 CHILD - 🧓 U+1F9D3 OLDER ADULT

Gendered via ZWJ sequences: - 👨 U+1F468 MAN (male equivalent) - 👩 U+1F469 WOMAN (female equivalent)

For professional and activity emoji, ZWJ sequences combine a person emoji with an activity:

# Man doctor: \\U0001F468 + ZWJ (\\u200D) + \\u2695 + \\uFE0F
# Woman firefighter: \\U0001F469 + ZWJ + \\U0001F692
# Person (neutral) scientist: \\U0001F9D1 + ZWJ + \\U0001F52C

Evolution of Gender Emoji

Unicode 6.0 (2010) introduced the first gendered human emoji, but with significant limitations — many activities were only available in gendered forms, defaulting to male presentation. The evolution occurred in several stages:

Unicode 9.0 (2016): Added gendered profession emoji for both male and female variants (👮‍♀️ female police officer, 👷‍♂️ male construction worker), but these were ZWJ sequences rather than standalone code points.

Emoji 12.0 (2019): Introduced fully gender-neutral emoji using the ADULT (🧑 U+1F9D1) base, allowing a gender-neutral doctor, teacher, or firefighter without selecting male or female presentation.

Emoji 13.0 (2020): Added 🧑‍🤝‍🧑 (people holding hands, gender-neutral), explicitly enabling same-gender couple representations using ZWJ sequences.

Skin Tone Modifiers and Gender

The Fitzpatrick scale modifiers (U+1F3FB through U+1F3FF) interact with gendered emoji to create diverse representations:

# Dark skin tone woman technologist:
# \\U0001F469 + \\U0001F3FF + ZWJ + \\U0001F4BB

This creates a combinatorial space where emoji can represent a wide range of identities without requiring individual code points for every combination.

Non-Binary and Gender-Neutral Representation

Unicode does not include a specific "non-binary" symbol analogous to ⚧ for transgender identity. The gender-neutral person emoji (🧑) serves as a visual representation without an accompanying symbol character. This reflects an ongoing discussion in the Unicode Emoji Subcommittee about how to represent diverse identities without proliferating symbols that would require separate encoding.

The interrobang-like combinations ⚲ (U+26B2 NEUTER) and ⚬ (U+26AC MEDIUM SMALL WHITE CIRCLE) appear in Unicode but are not conventionally used for gender identity.

Usage Considerations

Scientific and medical contexts: ♂ and ♀ remain standard in biology, genetics, and medicine for indicating biological sex of organisms. They should be paired with appropriate terminology in human health contexts where the distinction between biological sex and gender identity matters.

Form design: Web forms asking about gender should not rely on symbols alone — provide text labels. WCAG accessibility requirements mandate that form controls have programmatic labels, not just visual symbols.

Rendering consistency: Gender symbols render differently across platforms. The transgender symbol ⚧ in particular may render as a text character or emoji depending on platform and whether the variation selector is appended. Test across target platforms when these symbols carry important meaning.