This Android keyboard is designed to boost girls' self-confidence - here's how it works

 

The developers of Sheboard, a new keyboard application built for Android, want to make people more aware of the language they use about girls by serving up positive word alternatives to users while they're texting. 

The app was built by Plan International Finland, an organization that advocates for children's rights and gender equality for girls. Plan International points to research it says proves that people often unknowingly choose different words for when they're talking to or about girls versus boys. These differences in word choice, depicted in a promotional video for the Sheboard app, incentivize stereotypes and impact girls' self-esteem at young age, according to the organization.

So Plan set out to fix the problem with an app that suggests words while you're typing, similar to the way your default predictive keyboard would do.

Here's how Sheboard works: