What beauty pageants tell us about power and priorities

The Hindu

23-04-2025

The 72nd Miss World beauty pageant is scheduled to be held in Hyderabad from May 7 to May 31, 2025. The Telangana government is hosting the event. It aims to promote tourism under the banner of 'Telangana Zaroor Aana (Come to Telangana definitely)'. The announcement has triggered strong protests from women's organisations across the country — and for valid reasons.
An uneasy alliance
The controversy surrounding beauty pageants is not new. From Bangalore in 1996 to Mumbai in 2024, every edition held in India has invited public resistance. While organisers have tried to rebrand these events as platforms for female empowerment and global recognition, the questions they raise are far more layered and deserving of deep reflection.
At the heart of the critique is the uneasy alliance of capitalism and patriarchy. While the format of the pageant has evolved over time — from swimsuit rounds to question and answer segments to 'beauty with purpose' initiatives — the fundamental act of evaluating women in a competitive format based on physical appearance remains troubling. These are, after all, stylised performances, with bodies and personas trained and tailored for consumption, both by audiences and the marketplace.
Yet, we cannot dismiss the voices of the participants themselves. For many young women, especially from countries such as India where female visibility in public life is still fraught with challenges, participating in a global pageant is aspirational. It brings validation, exposure, and often an entry point into larger opportunities — be it in the media or in public life, or to promote social causes. The fact that India's own winners, such as Aishwarya Rai, Priyanka Chopra, and Manushi Chhillar, have become household names and even global ambassadors for various causes makes beauty pageants seem like empowering launchpads.
However, this duality cannot be ignored: even as pageants present themselves as empowering, they continue to package women's bodies for public consumption and corporate sponsorships. What is termed 'confidence' is often curated conformity. The empowerment here is conditional — contingent upon a very narrow, appearance-centric template of success.
The second and perhaps more critical concern lies with the governments — both State and Central — that actively court such events. Why is a beauty pageant preferred over international forums on women's health, employment, innovation, or rural development? Why are resources being allocated to host an event that primarily enhances visibility in foreign markets, rather than address the urgent developmental needs of local populations? These choices reflect patriarchal mindsets where women's value is still often linked to how they look rather than what they contribute.
This is not to undermine the participants or their ambitions. It is to question the framework in which such ambitions are fostered and rewarded. True empowerment is not about how confidently a woman walks a ramp, but how safely she walks her neighbourhood. Not about global visibility alone, but about everyday dignity, access, and agency.
No binaries
The conversation around events such as Miss World should therefore not be polarised into binaries of 'for' or 'against.' It must become an opportunity to interrogate our collective values — about who gets to represent the country, what messages we amplify to the world, and how we define empowerment in the 21st century.
As women's groups continue to raise their voices, it is not merely in protest of a pageant — but in defence of a broader vision where women are not celebrated for how they look, but for who they are and what they do.
A.L.Sharada, Trustee, Population First, Hyderabad