Beauty Pageants: Empowering Women or Not?

Beauty Pageants: Empowering Women or Not?

I know that this has been a debatable issue ever since pageants like the Miss Universe were introduced to the people. Some critics think that beauty pageants are just objectifying women. However, I believe the concept of beauty pageants is not just about that instead appreciating and celebrating them. It gives a platform for women to speak up and raise awareness on certain issues. It is their chance to show that even though they are beautiful, they can still be empowered and still be intelligent and use their voices to reach the masses and inspire them. It is one of the platforms where a woman can show not only her beauty but also show her talent. This creates confidence among women that they also have the ability to stand on a foreign country and represent their culture.

Empowering is one of them true.  On the other side, it tends to define beauty as tall and slender and fair skin, of course usually for pageants as Miss Universe, they test intelligence and kindness too but it is no place for the plus-size and the ugly. Obviously there is a huge want for these pageants, and let us be honest, they really do obviously explore what popular media tells us secretly on a daily basis: “beauty and sexy body” is valued in our culture, Filipino culture.

Most of the beauty pageants have a swimsuit portion so there is no place for fat people. Of course, that is because of what we are used to seeing. Although, there was Miss Canada in the recently concluded Miss Universe who was proud of being plus size but let us be honest, she is not the typical “fat lady”. For that reason weighty girls and girls who don’t have fair skin have been laughed at and bullied especially at schools, girls lose their confidence to participate even in class.

I know that striving to be the best version of oneself, with a focus on service to your community, and personal success seems like it could be an empowering event for women to participate in. But critics will always ask, can women be valued for their intellect and ambition by judging how they look like in swimwear?

        I think we need to start reconstructing the flow of our beauty pageants. Beauty pageants should put more emphasis on the beauty of one’s culture, and less on the physical beauty of its contestants. We should exclude the swimwear competition.  The contestants will be judged based on their elegance, education and world knowledge, skill set, talents, community involvement and service to others.  In this way I think we can truly empower the women in our society.