French court dismisses feminist claims Miss France pageant is discriminatory

A Paris court has backed the organisers of Miss France, dismissing claims from Osez le Féminisme – a leading feminist organisation – that the beauty pageant's selection process was discriminatory. The group is considering the possibility of an appeal.

Newly elected miss France Indira Ampiot during the Miss France 2023 beauty contest in Deols, central France, on 17 December, 2022. © AFP - Guillaume Souvant

Osez-le-Féminisme (Dare to be Feminist), along with three failed contestants, filed a suit against the promoters and producers of Miss France in October 2021, alleging they were breaking French labour laws.

The plaintiffs argued that the companies were discriminatory by obliging aspiring beauty queens to be more than 1.70 metres tall, single, and "representative of beauty".

• French feminists take on Miss France beauty pageant for discrimination

On Friday, the labour court in the Paris suburb of Bobigny declared itself competent to deal with the issue raised, "which means that [it] recognises the existence of a work and a recruitment process" in the selection of candidates for the beauty pageant, Osez le feminisme said in a statement.

However, the labour court rejected the other demands of the feminist group, an "intolerable decision that extends a recruitment process that is discriminatory and illegal," the organisation regretted, saying it would wait to see the arguments underpinning the ruling before deciding whether to appeal.

Elle dénonçait une compétition sexiste et allant à l’encontre du droit du travail : l'association @osezlefeminisme a été déboutée par la justice devant le conseil de prud’hommes de Bobigny, après avoir attaqué le concours «Miss France». https://t.co/GuIiX4TTMZ https://t.co/IHvLWV58HW

— Le Parisien (@le_Parisien) January 6, 2023

Miss France promotes 'all women'

The organisers of the pageant – the Miss France Company and Endemol Production – issued a statement saying they were "pleased their arguments had been listened to".

Miss France "continues to promote all women", they added.

The beauty pageant came under attack in 2021 from then gender equality minister, Elisabeth Moreno, who denounced the competition's "outdated rules ... which can be discriminatory".

The latest pageant in December involved fewer eligibility requirements, which had also previously restricted entry to women between the ages of 18 and 24 without children.

Now, any woman over 18 years old of any height and child-bearing status can enter. And visible tattoos were allowed for the first time.

Transgender women who have female civil status records were also permitted to compete.

(with wires)