Miss France Pageant Sued: Moms, short people and 24+yr old need not apply

To be crowned the most beautiful and elegant woman in France, you would have to be child free, never-been- married, at least 5 feet 5 inches tall and less than 24 years of age. This is why a French feminist organization is suing the organizers of Miss France.

Discriminatory Hiring Practices

The organization, Osez Le Féminisme, which translates to Dare to be Feminist, is suing the pageant's production company, Endemol, for discriminatory hiring practices. The suit has been filed on behalf of three rejected applicants.

A spokesperson of the feminist organization, Ursula Le Menn, told the CBC:

We'll see if Miss France can survive without sexism, because right now the whole contest is based on sexism. So can you survive with no discriminatory criteria? I guess we'll see. But my opinion is that, of course, it is discriminatory in essence.

Among other criteria, the Miss France application form stipulates that contestants must not have visible tattoos, never been married or had children. Its code of ethics goes on to state that contestants must not smoke or consume alcohol in public, pose for racy photos, or otherwise

behave contrary to good morals, public order and/or the spirit of the competition based in particular on values such as elegance.

Too Short

The three rejects have not been named, but Osez Le Féminisme says they were all deemed too short, and one or more of them have tattoos and drink and smoke in public.

According to the lawsuit, only one was born after 1997, making her older than 24 years. Le Menn said:

Basically, they are women who wanted to show something else. Women of every day. They wanted to, you know, show that women are not just supermodels that are super tall and super thin and perfect, and that women are a lot of things, and a lot of different things. That's the beauty of it.

Miss France 2021 pageant which aired in December 2020 received the best television ratings since 2006. 8.6 million viewers in to watch the crowning, according to local reports.