Earlier this month Mississauga, Ontario hosted the 6th annual Miss Pakistan World Pageant. I wasn’t there; however, this will not hinder me from critiquing the concept. Creator Sonia Ahmed (pictured here on the far right) started the pageant to “create a pool of talented Pakistanis all around the world.” She felt that “Pakistani girls had a lot of talent, some could dance, some could sing, most of them wanted to become models, but all this was not possible since there was no platform for them to be showcased and hence, Miss Pakistan World was put together with the support of these young women.” She has expressed that the pageant is for “modern Pakistani women.” Additionally, she referred to the latest pageant as “a new chapter in Pakistani liberation.“
A pageant liberating women? A pageant, which reduces women to the sum of their body parts, and not much else, is supposed to liberate the women of Pakistan? I guess education, equality in pay, equal treatment by the law are not the way to go for liberation. But rather having your body judged while walking across a stage in a bikini will liberate the women of Pakistan.
We all know how Western media often depicts Muslim women as weak and helpless. Ahmed, a Pakistani herself, repeats this sentiment when she says:
Pakistani women have always felt compelled to stay in the background. They have never had the same opportunities to create a voice and stand for what they believe in. It was only after living in Canada that I realized that women really do have the power to make a difference and make a change. You see it every day here (in Canada) and I hope that the women of Pakistan begin to see that as part of their reality soon.
This quote is irritating on a number of levels. The assumptions being made here are insulting to the women of Pakistan. The assumption is that the women of Pakistan have not tried to help themselves and have submissively accepted their ill-treatment. The assumption is also that her beauty pageant will save these women. Now, it has been offensive enough when traditionally many feminists have tried to implement their theories of freedom and liberation on women of the East. However, to say that a pageant, an objectifying and sexualizing event, will encourage the women of Pakistan to begin to better their lives, demeans the intelligence of Pakistani women. It also demeans the work of all these amazing Pakistani women who have been working for the betterment and success of Pakistan and Pakistani women for decades.
The pageant has faced criticism in Pakistan just for existing because it is said to encourage shameless behaviour. To me, it is not the revealing of body parts itself which is irritating. It is the judgment and worth based on those revealed body parts. But then insult is added to injury when a superficial and objectifying event is amplified to such an arrogant level so as to appear to “save” women; women who have already been hard at work for ages helping themselves.
It seems Ms. Ahmed and her pageant need to step off their self-positioned pedestal and recognize the reality of beauty pageants which reduce women to objects. And they need to stop insulting the women of Pakistan by assuming that their work has been the breakthrough Pakistani women have been needing for so long.
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Pakistani girls had a lot of talent, some could dance, some could sing, most of them wanted to become modelsReally, Sonia? Models? Most Pakistani “girls”?Ugh.
Hear hear! I nearly worked closely with Sonia on the first Miss Canada Pakistan pageant that took place in Ottawa but thank the Lord that I didn’t. However, I did attend it and what I saw in it well…it shocked me and titillated the perverse in me, both at the same time. The pageant is the twisted manifestation of a confused thought process that Sonia sahiba seems to go through. She has her heart in the right place it seems since she wants a better future for the women of Pakistan and she wants them to realize that they have power and rights but the method that she has adopted is entirely, laughably, counter productive to her stated goal. It’s kinda funny that she doesn’t get it. Maybe if she were to introduce an intellectual aspect to the pageant to balance off the physical aspect? But the physical aspect alone just makes it a PG-13 strip club for me, nothing more. And lets not even talk about the fact that these girls are supposed to be Muslim. Anyway, Sonia, I think you need to rethink yara. This is not what you’re aiming for or at least not what you should be aiming for.
Why you cosify these women? Why do you judge their lives without knowing almost nothing of them? Why do you think that a woman who enjoys to show her body can’t do anhithing else? Can’t be a dentist o whatever she wants? Your are making the same mistake you try to denounce.You’re double standars are clear enough. Yesterday a beuty contest was quite a feat, today is a misoginistic, imperialistic shame. What’s the difference between them? the veil. And that these woman do not share you pseudo-feminist prejudices agains beauty and the body. It’s not your bussiness how a woman decides to live her body. I’m not too fond of these contests. But I’ll tell you one thing. I’m from Spain, I very “modest” country no so long ago. You can’t even imagine what a liberation for the woman was the freedom to wear whatever they wanted. What a change was in society when women began to show their bodies without embarrasment, without shame, without fear.And also, the message these woman are sendig is: Look, sisters of Pakistan, It’s nothing wrong the beauty, the chastity is not more moral the freedom just because religion say so. Be whatever you want to be, not what religion, society or culture or thir-wave feminist wants you to be.Jose, from Spain.
lol…it’s pageant week at MMW!Abdullah, I agree that a pageant isn’t a good way to help any women. But if you didn’t agree with the aims of the pageant and if you thought that you would be “titillated”, perhaps you shouldn’t have attended. It’s not fair to shame these women (whose reasons for entering the pageant are perhaps unknown to you) or question their faith because of their participation. Jose, Duniya never said that these women couldn’t do anything else but show their bodies. The qualms we have with beauty pageants (veiled and non-veiled) revolve around the fact that women are judged on their looks. Also, neither of these posts berated women for being beautiful; Duniya slams this pageant because it assumes that’s all the women are capable of (being beautiful) and that’s the only way to “liberate” us.
Thanks Zeynab. Exactly. As I pointed out, it is not the revealing of the body I have a problem with – that is a woman’s choice. It is the organized and “acceptable” judging of a woman’s body. Additionally, to say that THIS is THE way for Pakistani women to BEGIN to liberate themselves is offensive. An event organized to judge a woman based on her body alone (I doubt the talent portions play much of a role) is the way for a nation of women to liberate themselves is demeaning. Especially since Pakistani women have been working hard for decades to liberate themselves in so much more substantial ways which can benefit all women regardless of background, looks, etc.
Another sign of intellectually backward and the inferiority complex mentality so common amongst desis. The organizer of this little meat market is also a strong supporter of Musharraf.Brown sahib syndrome, anyone? I guess 250 years of slavery wasn’t enough.
Agree with your analysis. I’m also offended because of the ugly dresses.