"Miss Nepal" is a beauty pageant that claims to be "a source of empowerment and inspiration to not only women but everyone". Saying so, you'd expect the pageant to be quite inclusive and empowering towards at least all women, right? However, the participation criteria of the contest suggests otherwise. They require all of their "empowered and inspirational" women to be above the height of 5'4. As a pageant that declares that it stands for feminism, this rule is contradicting. Nepali women of any size and height should be allowed to participate in this pageant that stands for empowering and inspiring them because having these so-called beauty standards in itself is messed up in today's world. Every women should feel that they are beautiful and a person's beauty is not defined by the way they appear on the outside, rather it comprises one's true, inner qualities such as kindness, compassion, elegance, confidence, passion, purpose, other talents etc. You just can't judge whether a contestant is capable enough to be sent to the international platforms (which, for the record do not even have any height requirements) on their appearance. Let them participate first and then judge whether they are capable or not.

There is no such height criteria in the international contests such as Miss World. In fact, the pageant also no longer requires its candidates to wear any make up, starting 2018. Miss World is not about beauty, it is about beauty with a purpose, and bringing meaningful change to this world.

Miss Nepal's website also mentions that the applicant must be "attractive" in order to participate. First of all, how do you even measure that? Who even decides what is attractive and what is not? Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder. What is pleasing to the eyes of one person might just be ordinary or "ugly" to another. Similarly, something that is "ugly" to one person, might be the most beautiful thing the other has ever seen in their life. Hence, it is unfair to say that someone is not attractive just because they don't fall into your or the standard idea of beauty.

You do not need to have a certain height to win or participate in Miss World. In fact, Julia Morley, chairperson of Miss World Organization was once asked by a journalist while she was in India about the same. Here's what she said:

“I am baffled to see so many tall women in the contest and I have often wondered that myself. When I go to Korea, or any other part of Asia, I don’t see too many tall women. I haven’t got an answer to that myself yet. You can be 5’1” and still win the Miss World contest. In the year 1963, Miss Jamaica, Carole Joan Crawford, won the title and she was just 5’3”! So there is a misconception.”

Height is genetic. We have little to no control over it. Moreover, the average Nepali women don't even fall under these height norms set by Miss Nepal. How unfair it is to snatch someone's dreams and ambitions away for a factor they can't even control? Does height really define a person's beauty? No it does not. That's the only answer. Nothing superficial will ever be enough to define a women's beauty.

So why do we still have such outdated and unfair restrictions at the national level, keeping our young, talented and passionate women from going on to the international arena? We, hereby, request The Hidden Treasure to re-evaluate their participation criterium and remove these height norms to make Miss Nepal fairer and more inclusive to all Nepali women.

Sincerely,

No Height Criteria for Miss Nepal