Jolly Mutesi (pictured below) knows a lot about beauty pageants. A judge, a contestant, a winner are all hats in her closet. She was the first Rwandan to compete for the Miss World Beauty Pageant and, as vice president of Miss East Africa beauty pageant, she is determined to elevate the status of beauty contests in the region.
The New Times’ Jade Natacha Iriza sat down with her to talk about Miss Rwanda and all its controversies, where she serves as a judge, a role she took on in 2019. She was crowned winner of the 2016 edition.
Let us start with your personal journey. Where did it all begin?
My long journey began in 2009, when Grace Bahati was crowned Miss Rwanda. I watched [the competition] and saw how the girls were facing the judges and the questions they were being asked. When they were talking to the judges, I felt like, wow! So a 19-year-old can have something they want to do to the community.
You say Miss Rwanda is more about what winners do after they are crowned, but many people believe there is no tangible impact, how do you respond to that?
What these platforms do first of all is foster self-empowerment. Empowerment does not come easily. You're 18 or 19 and thinking about empowering yourself. And, beyond that you want to empower the community. That [to me] is the first win.
Who doesn't want a generation of young women who are responsible and willing to commit to giving back to the community?
And, one thing society needs to understand, these beauty pageants or these beauty queens have no budget. It's using the platform to advocate, to stand for a certain cause. If you're not biased, then there is a great impact.
Take examples; Miss Rwanda 2017, she's advocating for people with cataracts (eye condition), and now she has cooperated with Kabgayi hospital, and they have done cataract surgery for over 1,000 people. Miss Rwanda 2018, Lilliane, she has been carrying out campaigns against malnutrition.
Miss Rwanda 2014, Colombe, she has built houses for genocide survivors in the Eastern province. Meghan, she has been advocating for youth involvement in agriculture. Look at Naomi, she has been working on mental health, which is a topic that has to be echoed nowadays more often.
It is not even being echoed as much as it should. Look at Grace, she has been doing quite some good work as well. So you will not tell me that beauty queens have not impacted society. We are not going to agree. Miss Rwanda requires much more skills than just having a glamorous dress or wearing the best makeup and being decked up on stage. It requires a lot more.
You mention self-empowering. Yet, some of the girls experience a severe drop in their confidence and self-esteem because of all the pressure and criticism. How did you manage it?
Beauty pageants are platforms like any other, every exposure has advantages and disadvantages. You don't even have to be criticized for you to be a beauty queen. You may be a singer, as long as you're exposed, people will have an opinion over you.
By the time I was joining beauty pageants, I was psychologically prepared and ready, mentally. Of course social media bullying, social media trolls, everybody has an opinion of who you should be, forgetting that there is who you are as a human being. So I never take anything personally because I believe that if nobody knows me on a personal level, then why should I take things so personal? I am very optimistic about life. I chose to stay focused on my ultimate goal.
Do beauty pageants empower girls or encourage objectification of women?
I believe beauty pageants empower women. These are platforms that elevate the ability of young women to stand for what they believe in and do something in communities. Miss Rwanda instills a sense of responsibility in a woman. When you empower a woman, you impact the nation. So we need a generation of young women that are very responsible, that are embracing responsibility, beyond-self. And, there's one thing society needs to know, as beauty queens our lives do not revolve around beauty pageants. We are talented, ambitious, beautiful women that just have a passion for beauty pageants. We are multifaceted, we have lawyers, we have doctors, we have entrepreneurs, and engineers that just have a passion for pageantry. So we shouldn't be criticized for how we choose to do things and what we choose to do and how we choose to do them. Beauty pageants, uplift young women and empower women. They do not objectify women.
In addition to all the challenges the girls go through that take a toll on their mental health. They're also highly judged based on their physical appearance. Don't you think this is a form of objectifying women?
No, anybody can objectify you according to how biased they are. So you don't have to be in Miss Rwanda [contest] for you to be objectified. It's just like any other exposure. You can be an artist, you can be a journalist, you can be a Minister. You know, people don't even fear bullying ministers in some other countries. People even bully Presidents. You do not have to be in a Miss Rwanda [contest], to be exposed to criticism, so why should the beauty pageants be put in a certain corner that they objectify women? Is this the only arena where we have women exposed? No, we have women exposed on so many platforms.
There are three aspects of Miss Rwanda; beauty, brains, and culture. People tend to consider the beauty side more. Why?
It's the bias of people because beauty is relative, and every woman is beautiful. So what is wrong for a woman to look beautiful as they stand for a certain cause in society? Everything has criteria. When you apply for a job, some people tell you, you need to know English, French, and maybe Kinyarwanda, those are the criteria. And in beauty pageants, Beauty is a factor as well because we are all naturally compelled to be attracted to beautiful things and people. Whoever criticizes them [contestants] and says they are less beautiful, is a biased person, it tells much more about who you are as a person than me who decided to take up the space and stand for what I believe in. So for me, beauty, but shouldn't be a problem because women are beautiful and there's nothing wrong with looking beautiful and elegant as you stand for a certain cause in society.
What is your message to the girls that choose to participate in these beauty contests like Miss Rwanda and others?
My simple message is, learn to embrace responsibility, beyond yourself, and stand for a certain cause. Stand tall in what you believe in. This [Miss Rwanda] is a platform that exposes you to the community where everybody's entitled to their opinion so you should be self-aware. If you want to empower other people, you should be empowered yourself. It's much more about what you want to do or what you believe in than what you look like.