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Journalism of Courage
On June 8, the Miss World Organisation announced India as the venue of its next competition, due to be held later this year, saying the decision recognises “the nation’s rich cultural heritage, its commitment to promoting diversity, and its passion for empowering women.”
This will be the second time the programme is held here, with the first being in Bengaluru in 1996.
The Miss World pageant is one of the oldest such competitions in the world. According to America’s Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), it was in Britain that it was launched in 1951.
Coinciding with the era “of postwar reconstruction, the event was held at the British government-staged Festival of Britain. It also featured the country’s latest industrial products, technological discoveries and the arts.
“Organizers turned to a London entertainment company, Mecca Limited, to boost festival attendance. Eric Morley, the company’s publicity director, persuaded festival planners to add an international beauty contest to planned events.”
Morley decided that contestants should be judged while wearing the new beachwear sensation, the bikini. However, threats from the likes of Ireland and Spain to withdraw from the competition “because of their opposition to women being judged in bikinis” led to the adoption of a one-piece bathing suit instead.
It was then dubbed by the British press as “Miss World” and its success led to it being held annually. The rise of television propelled its popularity to greater heights and “the contest subsequently became the most-watched event in Britain”.
This year, the organisation’s website states further, “Contestants from over 130 countries will gather in India to showcase their unique talents, intelligence, and compassion. They will participate in a series of rigorous competitions, including talent showcases, sports challenges, and charitable initiatives, all aimed at highlighting the qualities that make them exceptional ambassadors of change. There will be several rounds to shortlist participants taking over a period of one month before the grand finale scheduled in November/ December 2023.”
What happened the last time India hosted the pageant?
With the liberalisation of the Indian economy in 1991, allowing the entry of foreign and private businesses here in large numbers, more and more international brands looked to it as a sizeable new market for their expansion. In 1994, the Miss World and Miss Universe titles were won by two Indian women – Aishwarya Rai and Sushmita Sen, respectively – helping increase the pageant’s popularity in this region.
Radhika Parameswaran, the Associate Dean and Herman B Wells Endowed Professor in the Media School and academic at Indiana University, wrote in a paper (‘Global Media Events in India: Contests over Beauty, Gender and Nation’) that the event saw considerable business heft with sponsors ranging from manufacturers of soaps to credit card companies.
But the idea of India hosting it was itself accompanied by significant backlash. The event was held by actor Amitabh Bachchan’s Amitabh Bachchan Corporation Ltd. (ABCL), and the company is reported to have sustained financial losses after the pageant.
The New York Times reported that in 1996, when the Miss World pageant was held in Bengaluru, “the numerous protests included self-immolation. Strange bedfellows found themselves entwined in their mutual outrage – feminists who found such contests degrading to women and Hindu nationalists who saw the show as an invasion of Western degeneracy. The swimsuit competition had to be moved to the nearby and more hospitable Seychelles Islands.”
Right-wing groups were concerned about the loss of traditional Indian values with the coming in of ‘Western’ ideals, where women displayed their beauty for the judgement of ‘experts’. Leftist groups were against the event over what globalisation and unleashing of market forces would mean for Indian women and workers, and the focus on such events over issues of poverty and empowerment.
Parameswan writes, “Members of women’s groups-Mahila Jagran Samiti, Mahila Jagruthi, Vimochana, the All India Women’s Democratic Forum, and the National Commission on Women – courted local and global media. To gain publicity, the All India Women’s Democratic Forum hosted a mock pageant, a satirical commentary on Miss World, that was covered on the front pages of newspapers and in local and national television news; at a large, centrally located public park, feminists crowned mock women contestants as “Miss Poverty, Miss Homeless, and Miss Landless.”
But nevertheless, the competition was held in India, even as one man set himself on fire and died in the protests against it.
