Somalia beauty pageant held in world’s worst place to be a woman

While many Somalis crowded into cafes and private homes on Sunday night to watch the Euro soccer final, hundreds of Mogadishu’s most fashionable residents gathered at the beachside Elite Hotel for another pageant: Miss Somalia.

The detonation of a car bomb about a kilometre outside the Top Coffee restaurant packed with football fans highlighted the schizophrenic nature of life in Somalia.

While beauty pageant contestants were parading around the hotel, at least five people were killed and about 20 injured in a nearby explosion.

The Islamist extremist group al-Shabab, which has controlled much of Somalia for more than 15 years, claimed responsibility for the attack.

Hani Abdi Gas founded the Miss Somalia 2021 pageant, a brave act in a culturally conservative country rife with Islamist militants. Somalia regularly tops lists of the world’s worst places to be a woman.

Ms. Gas grew up in the Dadaab refugee camp in Kenya, along with hundreds of thousands of other Somalis fleeing war and drought. She returned home in 2020.

Although the pageant is about beauty, Ms Gas said the inspiration behind the pageant is to elevate women’s voices and bring them out of isolation.

“It promotes unity and empowerment,” she said.

Ms Gas believes it’s time for Somalia to join the world when it comes to beauty pageants. “I want to celebrate the aspirations of women from diverse backgrounds, build their confidence and give them the opportunity to showcase Somali culture to the world.”

This year’s contest certainly represents women from many different walks of life. One of the contestants is a policewoman.

Many people in Somalia find the idea of ​​beauty pageants abhorrent.

Some see it as an insult to Islam and Somali culture. Others say it is another form of gender abuse, treating women as objects.

“I feel disgusted at the thought of our young girls having to take part in this horrific competition,” said tribal leader Ahmed Abdi Halane.

“Such things are against our culture and religion. If a girl wears tight clothes and appears on stage, it will bring shame to her family and clan. Women are supposed to stay at home and wear modest clothes.”

Some women also protest beauty pageants.

“Supporting Somali youth is good but not in a way that conflicts with our religion,” said student Sabrina, who did not want to reveal her last name.

“It is not appropriate for a woman to appear in public without covering her neck and that is exactly what the Miss Somalia contestants did.”

Unlike the dark robes and veils worn by many Somali women, Miss Somalia contestants wear tight, bright dresses.

Wearing a long yellow dress with floor-length sleeves, Aisha Ikow, 24, was crowned Miss Somalia and took home a cash prize of $1,000 (£770).

She is a university student and makeup artist, and represents the South West state. The other finalists were regional beauty queens from Jubaland in the south and Galmudug in central Somalia.

“I will take this as an opportunity to fight against child marriage and promote education for girls,” said Ms. Ikow.

“The pageant celebrates Somali culture and beauty while shaping a brighter future for women.”

The six judges, five women and one man, had a difficult time choosing the winner.

The judges include the founder, Ms. Gas, a representative of the Ministry of Youth and Miss Somalia 2022. They judge the contestants based on their physical beauty, how they walk on the catwalk, how they dress and how they speak in public.

There is also online voting open to the public.

The voting fee is $1, and the money raised will go to fund the event in Mogadishu and overseas trips to compete in the Miss Africa, Miss World and Miss Universe pageants.

The night parade at a luxury beachfront hotel is a far cry from the lives of most Somalis, especially women.

Four million Somalis, about a quarter of the population, are living elsewhere in the country after being forced to flee their homes.

The United Nations estimates that between 70% and 80% of them are women.

By 2024, enough data had been collected for Somalia to be included in the United Nations Human Development Index for the first time in three decades. The country ranked last.

Somalia ranks fourth from the bottom on the United Nations Gender Inequality Index. Aid groups say 52% of women in the country have experienced gender-based violence. About 98% have been subjected to female genital mutilation.

Traditionally, when a man rapes a woman, his “punishment” is to marry the woman he sexually assaulted. Attitudes toward rape and other forms of abuse against women have not changed much over the years.

In 2013, a woman in Mogadishu was sentenced to a year in prison after reporting that she was raped by security forces.

In the self-proclaimed republic of Somaliland, religious leaders repealed a 2018 sexual crimes law shortly after it was signed. The revised version did not protect women from child marriage, forced marriage, rape or other forms of sexual abuse.

But the fact that the Miss Somalia pageant could be held in Mogadishu, even just a kilometer from where the suicide bombing took place, shows that the country is changing both in attitude and security.

A beauty pageant would have been unthinkable a few years ago, especially when al-Shabab controlled the capital.

The crowd at the Elite Hotel did not leave until early morning. They did not hear the nearby attack because it was drowned out by the sound of the Indian Ocean waves crashing on the beach.

Kiin Hassan Fakat is a reporter for Bilan Media, an all-female news agency in Somalia.

Mary Harper has written two books about Somalia, including Everything You Have Told Me Is True, a look at life under al-Shabab.