Let’s proceed to the list of the top performing countries in international beauty pageants: 2018 rankings. Insider Monkey has recently published an interesting article about it. One of the major criticisms is that beauty pageants promote body-shaming, as they celebrate only a certain type of beauty. Contestants have to possess particular features if they want to be deemed fit for the competition. They are scrutinized for any imperfections, which ultimately does affect their result. Another criticism is targeted at the lack of inclusiveness and subtle racism. Only two black women have ever won the title of Miss World. Only five black girls have ever won Miss Universe contest. It is evident that Western type of beauty is being promoted as one worth admiring. Critics also point out the lack of transparency in competitions, whereby judging/scoring practices are said to be non-transparent.
Now without a further ado let’s see what Insider Monkey has investigated for us. We have picked three of top performing countries in international beauty pageants: 2018 rankings from their list.
The first one is South Africa (4 titles/16 runners-up). The last big win for South Africa was last year when Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters was crowned Miss Universe. This is not the only time South African was crowned Miss Universe. In 1978, Margaret Gardiner won the pageant. The second country is Spain (5 titles/16 runners-up). Mireia Lalaguna from Barcelona region won Miss World title in 2015. She was also given a special award Miss World Top Model. In 2008, Alejandra Andreu also won the major title, Miss International, and was awarded a special award, Miss Photogenic. For the third one we are mentioning Colombia (5 titles/22 runners-up). The beauty of Colombian women is known worldwide, and it shows in the results from major international beauty pageants. Three Colombian women were crowned Miss International, while two were crowned Miss Universe. At last, but not least let’s see India (9 titles/15 runners-up). Even if you are not into beauty pageants, chances are you were rendered speechless after seeing Aishwarya Rai. She won 1994 Miss World pageant and had been named the most beautiful woman by many.
For any further useful information, read Insider Monkey’s article about 15 top performing countries in international beauty pageants: 2018 rankings.