Diversity of all kinds should be accepted and proudly displayed as a celebration of the equality of humankind, especially within Skype and its parent company Microsoft.

Currently, there is a distinct lack of diversity within the visible and hidden emoticons on Skype.  This is focus on the lack of diversity by gender and race, however those are not the only areas that should be addressed.

Gender:

• Only 2 out of 100 visible emoticons are related to women. 
• Of those 2 visible emoticons, 1 is a kissing emoticon and the other is a makeup emoticon.  This is limiting to women as it portrays an unfair stereotype about women’s interests and emotions related to the other 98 visible emoticons on Skype.
• Additionally, the 3 sports-related emoticons (dancing, biking and soccer) do not make a clear enough attempt to show that women are participating in these types of events.  By doing so, these emoticons are again limiting and unfairly stereotyping women’s interests.

 Race:

• There is only 1 visible emoticon (out of 100) that acknowledges other racial minorities.
• That 1 visible emoticon is a man bowing, presumably of Asian heritage.
• Almost every other indication of skin color in the visual emoticons is white or Caucasian.  (Examples include yes, no, shaking hands, muscle, praying, etc).
• Additionally, there is no option to select a visible emoticon and change the race to a racial minority.  There are only yellow emoticons, which most resemble people of white or Caucasian heritage.

Summary: We request that Skype, and its parent company Microsoft, make the following changes:

• Allow equal representation or parity for racial minorities and women in the visible and hidden emoticons on Skype.

Source: https://support.skype.com/en/faq/FA12330/what-is-the-full-list-of-emoticons