ONE AFTERNOON IN 1989, while sitting in on a University of Ottawa course titled Women in Politics, I was reminded of the part played by beauty contests in the feminist movement. The class was reading from one of Germaine Greer’s books on feminism in which she referred to the 1970 Miss World Contest as a landmark in the rise of the women’s movement. I was sitting next to a fellow student, Myrna, who has since become a close friend. Something of a media buff, she knew I had once been a beauty contestant and asked me quietly what I thought of the subject. I put my index finger up to my mouth—shhh. “I will talk with you later,” I said.
Afterward, when Myrna pressed me for my opinion, I told her,
I take a developmental approach in arguing in favour of beauty contests. They provide young women with an opportunity to improve themselves by enabling them to be the best they can be. They gain experience by appearing in public, talking to audiences and engaging with media. Other benefits can include the opportunity to travel abroad, develop knowledge of other cultures and form lifelong friendships. Many participants also develop life skills such as time management and social etiquette. In short, most learn to overcome personal hurdles and use the experience as a stepping stone to other careers. Christie Brinkley went on to be a supermodel. Halle Berry, an actress. There are countless more examples, including at least three Miss Worlds who became medical doctors and one or two who became engineers. I myself became a spokeswoman for my country. So while the feminist movement speaks of using the Miss World contest to raise the profile of its cause, I like the way Cindy Breakspeare, a former Miss World from Jamaica, presents the case for pageants: “Nobody exploited me. I exploited myself. I saw this as a great opportunity to further my career, and I went for it!”
As a result of its link to beauty contests, feminism, as a cause, has become better known. However, feminists themselves don’t always follow their own logic. True feminism, in my eyes, gives women the choice to pursue their desires. Simone de Beauvoir spoke admirably on the importance of choice: “How chance and choice converge to make us who we are.” All women and men should be free to follow their own paths, to use what God has given them to the best of their ability. None of us are required to choose what might be considered traditional types of work or to submit to one particular movement or theory. That women have more choices and options today, I think, is largely due to the success of feminism. We need to build on choice, not backtrack.
I commend the organizers of beauty contests (some more than others) for bringing these events in line with current thinking about empowering women to make wise choices. This includes omitting or minimizing the importance of the swimsuit component, which had in the past served to objectify women. Pageants now put more emphasis on an individual’s ability to communicate intelligently and represent women around the world. This is all positive. Again, there is no one roadmap for personal development, and women should not have to apologize to anyone for choosing the route of the beauty contest while on their path to finding themselves and their true calling.
It is hugely significant to me that at the time of this writing, five of the major pageant winners are black women. This tells me that a lot of young women, including many who do not come from privileged backgrounds, are finding these contests useful stepping stones to self-betterment and fulfillment. My participation in the Miss World contest in 1970 took me on an adventure that continued for the rest of my life.
My life has been truly blessed. I have lived in Canada, one of the wealthiest nations in the world, and I have worked in Bangladesh, one of the poorest. This range of experiences taught me that people are the same wherever you go and ensures that I never forget how fortunate we are in the Western world. Three-quarters of the world’s population lives one day to the next, in fragile circumstances. Those of us in more prosperous countries have an obligation to help others, showing them empathy, giving real assistance when we can and not behaving in an exploitive manner. These are the values that make us true citizens of the world. That is the sum of my learnings in the field of development.
While I still value marriage, I am at a stage of life in which I enjoy being single and spending time with my family and numerous friends. I have two wonderful children and now five grandchildren. Sophia completed her master’s degree some years ago in disaster and emergency management and has worked all over the world, including a difficult posting with the United Nations in Afghanistan. She now lives and works just north of Toronto in the York region. Beau owns his own property management company in Whistler, British Columbia. They both have wonderful supportive spouses. Most importantly, they are good people who have made good choices.
It’s funny, but one of the things I’m most often asked about is how I adjusted to life on a Canadian farm after all the Miss World glamour. Part of the answer is that a farm in Canada can be a great way to live, and as I’ve discussed, there is a lot of hard, unglamorous work involved in being Miss World. The rest of the answer is that I am an adaptable person and have always appreciated real people. I had no trouble appreciating farm life and its simple rhythms. The farming community was full of pleasant, down-to-earth people, and we accepted and respected each other as human beings.
Being brought up on a farm taught my children to appreciate nature and the value of hard work. I do not think that if I had given them the option of living in the city they would necessarily have taken it. Of course, their lives today are very different from what they knew as children. It is hard for all of us to get our heads around how relatively isolated we were back then, compared to how connected we are by technology these days.
The grandchildren, especially, like to hear stories of those “primitive” times on the farm, and I enjoy telling them. My wish for them is that they will take every advantage of the opportunities that come to them, knowing that those opportunities will take forms they could never have imagined, and take them places they could never have expected to be.