Empowering women through beauty pageants: beyond the glitz and glamour

Empowering women through beauty pageants: beyond the glitz and glamour

Beauty pageants have long been seen as events focused merely on external beauty, dazzling outfits, graceful walks and sparkling smiles. Over the time beauty pageants have evolved to become stalwart platforms for empowering women, celebrating their mental strength, wisdom, confidence, prowess, aplomb and beauty. These events provide women from diverse backgrounds immense opportunity to share their voices, views and perspectives.

Here are some points that reflect how beauty pageants empower women of today, beyond the glitz and glamour.

Reinforcing aplomb and self actualization:

One of the immediate positive impacts of participating in a beauty pageant is the confidence boost. Contestants undergo rigorous preparations, grooming sessions which strengthen their public speaking skills and they can get wings to fly high. These pageants help women reinvent their talents and skills beyond their physical beauty. The experience of  spectacular walking across the stage in front of a colossal audience and being applauded for their efforts instills a sense of accomplishment , self esteem,  self actualization and pride regardless of the outcome. Apart from winners there are various subtitles which make the contestants believe in their worth and ability to prove themselves on a grand stage.

Boosting leadership skills:

Beauty pageants are not just about beauty and glamour, these are about community leadership. An ideal leader should have qualities like profound knowledge in current social issues, consistency, efficient communication skill, honesty, intense will power, visionary outlook, selflessness, galore courage and will power. These kind of qualities are developed in events like pageants. These qualities often transfer to real world opportunities and enabling women to take on leadership roles in various fields.

Challenging Stereotypes:

The image of a beauty queen has conventionally been one of someone who is simply magnificent and graceful. However, modern pageants have worked hard to redefine this stereotype. Women in pageants often showcase their magnanimity and kindness, flaunt their talents, skills, boldness, intelligence  and spread their positive aura among the people around them and leave a lasting impact on the hearts of others. Today's beauty queens are multi-dimensional and serve as role models for other women, showing that they can be leaders, scholars, activists and entrepreneurs- all while delineating and embracing their individuality and uniqueness. By shifting the narrative around beauty, pageants challenge societal norms and encourage women to clasp to their bosom of authentic selves from within.

Creating opportunities for career growth:

Participating beauty pageants open doors to various career opportunities like entertainment, fashion and business where they continue to use the skills they unfolded in pageantry. Most importantly, pageants provide women such a grandeur platform through which they can expand their professional networks and access to influential people and organizations that might have otherwise been inaccessible. Whether it’s through media coverage, brand partnerships or public speaking engagements, beauty pageants give women a platform to boom their career opportunities.

Building a benevolent and benign community:

Beauty pageants often foster a sense of camaraderie among contestants. Instead of being competitive, many pageants emphasize the importance of empowering and supporting one another and making lifetime friendships and connections with like minded individuals who encourage and uplift each other. This sense of benign community helps women feel empowered, knowing they are part of a greater movement of women supporting other women.

Encouraging body positivity and self-acceptance:

A major shift within beauty pageants in recent years has been the increased focus on body positivity. Gone are the days of only showcasing size-zero models in beauty competitions. Today, pageants are celebrating women of all shapes and sizes, with many pageants specifically designed to promote body positivity and self-love.

Pageants like Miss Plus Size International are dedicated to showcasing the beauty and strength of women who do not conform to conventional beauty standards. These pageants demonstrate that women can feel confident and empowered at any size or shape.

A voice for advocacy and social impact:

Contestants often use their platforms to advocate for important social issues, raise awareness and inspire others to get involved in making a positive impact in their communities. The winners of the beauty pageants are often involved in charitable work and global campaigns. By using their life as a springboard for advocacy, beauty queens can directly influence social change, motivating others to take action and make a difference. This shift in focus is empowering not only for the contestants but also for the millions of viewers who are inspired by these women’s dedication to positive change.

Conclusions:

When beauty pageants highlight the inner strength, intellect and character of women, they transform into empowering celebrations of womanhood. In a world where women are constantly told they must fit  in a particular mold, beauty pageants provide an opportunity to redefine what it means to be beautiful-showing that true empowerment comes from embracing one’s individuality and using it to create change.