Unless you’ve been living under a rock (or you’ve been stuck in an extra – long exam season) I’m sure you’ve seen the tragically awkward video of Steve Harvey crowning the wrong Miss Universe. While my heart breaks for Miss Columbia, as she wasn’t just ‘so close’ to the crown – it was actually on her head, she was graceful and poised throughout the entire ordeal, and allowed for Miss Philippines to be crowned the rightful winner. After the incident, there was public speculation that the newly crowned Miss Universe would share the crown, as it would be the ‘right thing’ to do. Miss Columbia supported the idea herself, stating to a Columbian radio station that she hoped she could share the crown with the actual winner – as well as all of the duties that came along with it.
Now theres no denying that Miss Columbia has suffered from humiliation that most of us only experience in a bad dream, or read about in a funny (but cringe – worthy) section of Cosmo. However, the bottom line of this situation is that she was not the rightful winner. Her embarrassing moment has given her more fame and attention than any other runner – up of the pageant, and while it might not be for the right reasons, she certainly won’t be forgotten any time soon.In order to share the crown, it would mean that the rightful winner would have to be giving up apart of her well deserved, and more importantly – earned – portion of her winning.
Miss Philippines finally spoke out about the event, shortly and sweetly stating that “I think it would be a little bit difficult for two girls to share a crown,” to Good Morning America, thus shutting down the entire discussion. Now, I’m one of those people who can turn a simple game of Monopoly into a full – out war, I’ve been lovingly compared to Monica from Friends in my level of competitiveness. I feel as though Miss Philippines rightfully earned what is hers, and no one should even be suggesting that she give any part of that up. I think that the deeper issue here is how society view’s women and their competition and drive. By traditional ‘feminine’ stereotypes, women are supposed to be uncompetitive, and inherently kind by nature. Women are supposed to be ‘people pleasers’ who should smile and do what they are told in order to maintain peace. If we look at the Miss Universe pageant in general, we see that many aspects of it still revolve around traditional ‘feminine’ ideals, such as beauty, and being “ intelligent, well-mannered, and cultured.” Therefore, it is logical that the public expected the best Miss Universe to be ‘well mannered’ and polite, wanting to keep peace and keep her competitor happy.
The rest of the public sees these women as Barbie dolls, and fail to see that beneath the gowns, big hair, makeup and politically correct, people – pleasing answers, there are actually real, ambitious, women who are striving to further their career and become successful. When suggesting that Miss Universe share her crown, they are not realizing that the title is more than a sparkly $30,000 crown to her. The position is commonly called a ‘full time job’ meaning that it will give Miss Philippines security for the rest of her life.
Imagine this situation – a very prestigious company is hiring for one managerial position. Once all of the interviews are completed, there is one definite winner that the company feels would be a good fit, and representation. An assistant has a list of all of the applicants and is told who to phone to offer the job. Unfortunately, due to her excitement about having a new co-worker, she accidentally phones the wrong person to give them the good news and tells them that they begin work the next day. As soon as that person comes into work the next day, the interviewer knows that there must have been an error. Since this job was highly competitive, and needs a specific skill set in order to be done correctly, the interviewer rightly decides to stick with his original decision, and politely tells the new worker that there was a mistake, and calls up the intended person, who is overjoyed that they got the position. In this hypothetical situation, would people suggest that it would be the ‘right thing to do’ to share the position between the two applicants, since the one suffered from unjust humiliation and false hope. Even though it would entail that the rightful person would have to share their responsibilities – and thus their rewards with someone else simply due to an untimely human error. It doesn’t seem like a fair resolution to take away from the winner, when they were not involved with the mistake at all.
To conclude, I applaud Miss Philippines for standing up an protecting what is rightfully hers. She recognized that she earned the position, and thus is entitled to reap the benefits of it. Throughout the entire ordeal she has maintained herself, and upheld all of the traditional Miss Universe standards, while still looking out for her own self interest. She is doing this regardless of what the general public thinks, and is not abiding by what she is told is the ‘kind’ thing to do. Snaps to Miss Philippines – now Miss Universe – for working hard and claiming 100% of the rewards from it.