5 ft 5, unmarried & no child! Miss France beauty pageant sued over selection criteria
Miss France
The famed Miss France pageant has been sued by feminist activist group Osez le féminisme (Dare to be feminist) and three applicants, over alleged discriminatory entry requirements.
The group called out the pageant's parent company Endemol Production and has filed an appeal, by saying,Miss France contestants perform a work service and should be protected from prejudice under French employment law, reported CNN.
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An application form revealed candidates would not be considered if they were not at least 5-foot-5, or if they had ever been married or had children.
Further disqualifiers for potential contestants include wearinghair extensions, having tattoos and smoking. The contestants are under an obligation not to gain weight or change their hairstyle and are not allowed to have piercings anywhere other than in their ears.
The French labour code forbids companies from discriminating on the basis of 'morals, age, family status or physical appearance,' Violaine De Filippis-Abate, a lawyer for Osez le feminisme, told AFP.
Alyssa Ahrabare, the head of Osez le féminisme, criticised the pageant and wrote on social media that Miss France currently "feeds stereotypes that stand in the way of equality."
"The competition rules are discriminatory: marital status, age, attitudes, choices of women, everything is subject to injunctions from another time! Candidates must be single and respect the rules of "elegance", stop these sexist rules!" she added.
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The next contest is set to take place in Caen in northern France on December 11.
Over the years, there have been other instances of sexism in beauty pageants, in 2018, model Veronika Didusenko had her Miss Ukraine title revoked when organizers found out she was a mother andMiss Papua New Guinea 2019 Lucy Maino, for instance, was stripped of her crown after a video of her twerking was shared on the internet that went viral.
The dance was criticised as "inappropriate".
