Somalia beauty pageant held in the worst place in the world to be a woman

While many people in Somalia crammed into cafes and homes on Sunday night to watch the Euro 2016 final, hundreds of Mogadishu’s most fashionable residents gathered at the beachfront Elite Hotel for another competition: Miss Somalia.

The fact that about a kilometer away a car bomb exploded outside the Top Coffee restaurant, which was packed with football fans, highlights the schizophrenic nature of life in Somalia.

As beauty contestants paraded at the hotel, at least five people were killed and around 20 injured in an explosion that occurred nearby.

The Islamist militant group al-Shabab, which has controlled much of Somalia for more than 15 years, said it carried out the attack.

Hani Abdi Gas founded the Miss Somalia pageant in 2021, a brave thing to do in a culturally conservative country rife with Islamist militants. Somalia has regularly topped lists of the worst places in the world to be a woman.

Ms Gas grew up in Kenya’s Dadaab refugee camp, along with hundreds of thousands of other Somalis who fled war and drought. She returned to her homeland in 2020.

While the pageant is about beauty, Ms Gas said the inspiration behind the competition was to elevate women’s voices and bring them out of isolation.

“It promotes unity and empowerment,” she said.

Ms Gas believes it is time for Somalia to join the rest of the world when it comes to beauty pageants. “I want to celebrate the aspirations of women from diverse backgrounds, build their confidence and give them a chance to showcase Somali culture around the world.”

This year’s competition certainly represented women from different walks of life. One of the contestants was a police officer.

Many in Somalia find the idea of ​​beauty pageants appalling.

Some see them as an affront to Islam and Somali culture. Others say they are another form of gender abuse, reducing women to objects.

“I am disgusted by the idea of ​​our young women competing in this terrible competition,” said clan leader Ahmed Abdi Halane.

“Such things are against our culture and religion. If a girl wears tight clothes and appears on stage, it will bring shame to her family and clan. Women should stay at home and wear modest clothes.”

Some women also oppose beauty pageants.

“It’s good to support Somali youth, but not in ways that conflict with our religion,” said student Sabrina, who did not want to give her last name.

“It is not appropriate for a woman to appear in public without covering her neck and that is what the Miss Somalia contestants did.”

Unlike the somber colored costumes and veils worn by many Somali women, Miss Somalia contestants wore extravagant, form-fitting dresses.

Wearing a long gold gown with floor-length sleeves, Aisha Ikow, 24, was crowned Miss Somalia and took home a cash prize of $1,000 (£770).

She is a university student and makeup artist, and represented the South West state. The other finalists were regional beauty queens from Jubaland in the south and Galmudug in central Somalia.

“I will use this as an opportunity to fight against early marriage and promote girls’ education,” Ms. Ikow said.

“The competition celebrates Somali culture and beauty while shaping a brighter future for women.”

The six judges, five women and one man, had a hard time choosing the winner.

The panel included the founder, Ms. Gas, a representative from the Ministry of Youth and Miss Somalia 2022. They judged the contestants according to their physical beauty, the way they walked, the way they dressed and the way they spoke in public.

There was also an online vote open to the public.

Voting cost $1, and the money raised was used to fund the event in Mogadishu and travel abroad to compete in the Miss Africa, Miss World and Miss Universe pageants.

The nightly parade at a luxury beachfront hotel was a far cry from life for most people in Somalia, especially women.

Four million Somalis, about a quarter of the population, are living in other parts of the country after being forced from their homes.

The UN estimates that between 70% and 80% of them are women.

By 2024, enough data had been collected for Somalia to be included in the United Nations Human Development Index for the first time in three decades. It ranked last.

Somalia ranks fourth from bottom on the UN Gender Inequality Index. Aid groups say 52 percent of women in the country have experienced gender-based violence. About 98 percent undergo female genital mutilation.

Traditionally, when a man raped a woman, his “punishment” was that he had to marry the woman he had sexually abused. Attitudes toward rape and other forms of abuse against women have not changed much over the years.

In 2013, a woman in Mogadishu was sentenced to a year in prison after reporting that she had been raped by members of the security forces.

In the self-declared republic of Somaliland, religious leaders overturned a 2018 sex crimes law almost as soon as it was signed. The revised version fails to protect women from child marriage, forced marriage, rape or other forms of sexual abuse.

But the fact that a Miss Somalia pageant can be held in Mogadishu, even a kilometer away from a suicide bombing, shows that the country is changing both in terms of attitudes and security.

A beauty pageant would have been unthinkable a few years ago, especially when al-Shabab controlled the capital.

The crowd at the Elite Hotel did not leave until the early hours of the morning. They did not hear the sound of the attack coming, as it was drowned out by the sound of the Indian Ocean waves crashing onto the shore.

Kiin Hassan Fakat is a reporter for Bilan Media, an all-female news agency in Somalia.

Mary Harper has written two books about Somalia, including Everything You Have Told Me Is True, a look at life under al-Shabab.