This past Sunday, the candidates for beauty pageant Miss Peru used their platform to protest against femicide- the killing of a woman or girl, by a man, because of her gender. When asked about their body measurements, they decided to answer with statistics about violence against women in Peru. While answering these questions, images of women who had been brutalized where shown on a screen. Later in the pageant, they were asked how would the change the legal code to better protect women.
Here are some quotes from that evening:
- “My name is Melina Machuca, I represent the department of Cajamarca, and my measurements are: more than 80% of women in my city suffer from violence.”
- “My name is Luciana Fernandez and I represent the city of Huanuco, and my measurements are: 13,000 girls suffer sexual abuse in our country.”
- “My name is Camila Canicoba and I represent the department of Lima. My measurements are 2,202 cases of femicide reported in the last nine years in my country.”
- “My name is Karen Cueto. My measurements are 82 femicides and 156 attempts this year so far.”
- “My name is Juana Acevedo and my measurements are: more than 70% of women in our country are victims of street harassment.”
On August 2016, Peru joined the Ni Una Menos campaign, which speaks out against violence towards women. Light sentences given to the men who attacked Lady Guillén, Arlette Contreras and Marielena Chumbimune have been credited as the cause of these types of protests. In early October, Maritza Garcia (president of the Comision de la Mujer), made some despicable comments blaming women for “provoking” femicide. This may be the reason that the 23 contestants planned this protest.
Now there may be dozens of articles sharing the very same information that I began this article with, but I wanted to highlight the braveness of these women to use their platform to bring attention to an issue that is affecting all of women in Peru. It is similar to how Miss Texas answered her question about how Donald Trump handled the violence in Charlottesville, Virginia following several protests, and how Beyoncé shares her political beliefs, but both of them have been met with negativity and told to “stay in their places.” To the contestants of Miss Peru 2018, if you are met with any backlash, please remember you have a voice and you used your voice properly by speaking up for those who cannot speak for themselves.
“The national queen must be the ambassador of ordinary women, of all women who have no voice,” said contest organizer Jessica Newton.
For more information on the #niunamenos campaign click here.