CONTEST “Osez le féminisme” argues that the criteria for entering this show are discriminatory under labor law
Miss Ile-de-France Diane Leyre is crowned by Amandine Petit at the end of the Miss France 2022 beauty pageant in Caen, December 11, 2021 — Sameer Al-DOUMY/AFP
The company Does Miss France impose discriminatory clauses on young women who would like to apply for the beauty contest? Justice will rule on January 6 on this question, raised again this Friday before the industrial tribunal of Bobigny by a feminist association.
The activists of “Osez le féminisme” have started in October 2021 legal proceedings, from a labor law perspective, against the election of Miss France, which they consider to be sexist. After a first hearing in June, which only resulted in on any decision because the industrial tribunal advisers had not been able to agree, the arguments of the two parties have to be resolved. new summer exposed Friday at a “break-up hearing”.
The “model”contract
“Dare feminism” maintains that the criteria for participation in this show – aired this year on December 17 on TF1 – are discriminatory with regard to labor law, because they require candidates to be at least 1.70 m tall and to be “representative of beauty.”.
The association also contests the nature of the legal relationship between the organizers and the candidates: since last year, the latter have signed an employment contract with the production of the show, as “”models” . The activists believe that this contract should start not three days before the election, but as soon as the regional elections.
Single and without children
Before the judges, the president of the Company Miss France, Alexia Laroche-Joubert, maintained that this question did not fall within her competence because she was only in charge of the national election. She also justified the size criterion imposed; candidates by the fact that they must wear “designer dresses” not designed for small sizes.
After the hearing, Ms. Laroche-Joubert refuted before journalists that the election of Miss France can be described as “sexist”. It is thus no longer required candidates that they are single and childless, because “it’s their personal life,” she said.
The “censorship » and the “unrealistic injunctions”
Critics of the contest “want to get people talking about them,” she castigated. “They don’t have to govern morality. When you think you can decide for women, I find ça inadmissible, I call ça censorship,” she added.
For Fabienne El Khoury, one of the spokespersons for “Osez le féminisme” contrary “open a debate” on the Miss France election. “In 2022, can we still put women in competition on sexist criteria, on unrealistic dictates and injunctions? The company doesn’t want ça anymore, ça is getting corny,” she said.