Miss Curvy Africa is a pageant event that is open to young African ladies from the age of 18 - 30 with the aim to UNITE, Empower and Promote the culture and beauty of the true AFRICAN LADY through Entertainment and Positive public orientation.
The Pageant attracts contestants from across Africa. Uganda, Kampala hosted the event on the 25th of November 2022.
Voting Results
Voting started Sunday 20th November 2022 and ended Friday 25th November 2022. 5,236 votes were casted.
Here are the results:
| Rank | Contestant | Country | Votes | Views | Percentage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | Nassuna Shirat | Uganda | 1,534 | 2,432 | 29.30% |
| #2 | Balogi Tumelo Bridget | Botswana | 1,081 | 2,494 | 20.65% |
| #3 | Michelle Madawas Mushimba | Namibia | 957 | 1,910 | 18.28% |
| #4 | Refilwe Direng | Botswana | 626 | 1,934 | 11.96% |
| #5 | Sara Msaki | Tanzania | 488 | 1,323 | 9.32% |
| #6 | Ludo Matumo | Botswana | 257 | 1,001 | 4.91% |
| #7 | Wendy Kamwana | Zimbabwe | 122 | 3,070 | 2.33% |
| #8 | Ofentse Mathebula | South Africa | 97 | 510 | 1.85% |
| #9 | Bakita John Odhong | South Sudan | 46 | 249 | 0.88% |
| #10 | Direng Refilwe | Botswana | 10 | 51 | 0.19% |
| #11 | Michele Phasha | South Africa | 9 | 41 | 0.17% |
| #12 | Karungi Brenda Ruhigwa | DRC | 2 | 45 | 0.04% |
| #13 | Akimana Delicia | Burundi | 2 | 49 | 0.04% |
| #14 | Lilian Renatus | Tanzania | 2 | 56 | 0.04% |
| #15 | Sebabatso Pearl Neo Litlali | Lesotho | 1 | 32 | 0.02% |
| #16 | Letitia Gwineth Kachingwe | Malawi | 1 | 45 | 0.02% |
| #17 | Agobedji Ruth Eloho | Nigeria | 1 | 55 | 0.02% |
Total Views: 3,317
Read also: Celebrating Beauty and Purpose: Miss World 2007
Controversies and Criticisms
The Miss Curvy contest attracted a lot of local and international media attention.
Uganda’s Parliament was divided about using a beauty pageant as a marketing tool for tourism. Those against the idea criticised it for objectifying women and the fact that the pageant was designed to use their bodies as tourist attractions.
Some have argued that the pageant promotes the continued marginalisation of women in an already strongly patriarchal society.
Using women’s body’s to attract tourists is a direct assault on their personal dignity.
It remains to be seen whether the overt objectification of women is an effective way to attract tourists. We would suggest that Uganda’s marketing strategy would work better with a focus on the country’s natural and cultural diversity.
Read also: Exploring the Miss Africa Strain
Money would be better spent protecting our wildlife from poachers.
At the launch he claimed that the pageant was designed to boost Ugandan tourism by putting the bodies of curvy women on display. According to the minister, the pageant was expected to help Uganda increase the number of tourists to the targeted 4 million by 2020, from the 1.32 million received in 2017.
But it’s questionable whether a pageant that’s clearly a ploy to maximise erotic capital, can help the country reach its development goals.
Uganda has used similar gimmicks before. In 2016 the same minister launched the Kampala Rolex Festival. A “rolex” is a Ugandan delicacy made of fried eggs wrapped in chapati (an unleavened flatbread). The festival was intended to boost domestic tourism but the ministry has yet to measure its impact in terms of actual numbers. The ministry is also running a parallel campaign dubbed Tulambule Uganda.
Initially it targeted female celebrities with sizeable social media platforms in the hope that they would use their influence to promote domestic tourism. The campaign has only recently recruited male celebrities.
Read also: Miss Universe Ghana: A Retrospective
Our view is that the beauty pageant idea is denigrating to women.
Uganda has great tourist attractions such as the iconic mountain gorillas, chimpanzees, lions, and giraffes; rich diversity of bird and insects species, and cultural and heritage tourism attractions. All are undervalued and undersold but should rightly form part of a comprehensive plan that attracts more tourists without exploiting women.
We have naturally endowed, nice-looking women who are amazing to look at.
Over the past three decades the women’s movement in Uganda has made tremendous strides in defending women’s rights. And there has been positive progress in various sectors.
The biggest advances have been made in education, political engagements and representation, employment and legal rights. A more enabling environment for women has also been facilitated by the pro-women legal and policy framework that guarantees the rights and dignity of women and girls.
But, there have been signs of a backlash that threatens to undo some of these positive outcomes.
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I strongly condemn it.
Still, there is no agreement on how a true, beautiful Zimbabwean woman should look. The conversation continues.
Miss Zimbabwe demands, among other things, tall and skinny. Miss Curvy demands curves and flat tummies. Miss TAQ is looking for bigger women. Each draws its own support, and each is an audible voice in the Zimbabwean discourse on beauty.
All three are very much alive.
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