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Why do millions of French people still watch ’embarrassing and old-fashioned’ Miss France contest?

Younger people will tell you that it's embarrassing and old-fashioned - but the Miss France contest still has a prime-time Saturday night TV slot and attracts millions of viewers every year.

Published: 10 December 2019 15:59 CET
Updated: 15 December 2023 14:31 CET

Why do millions of French people still watch 'embarrassing and old-fashioned' Miss France contest?

Miss France airs on TV this Saturday. Photo: AFP

Representatives for different regions have already been chosen and on Saturday night the new Miss France will be elected – with the contest a prime-time TV event that draws in millions of viewers.

The TV show is expected to draw in around 7 million viewers and the Miss France final regularly makes it into the most-viewed TV lists.

But is is also regularly denounced by feminist and equality groups.

If you ask French people – particularly the younger ones – about it, they will likely tell you the contest is an embarrassing anachronism.

“Miss France does not give a positive image of women,” said Caroline, a Parisian student.

“It is futile, pointless and utterly out of time,” said Pauline, another Parisian student.

While British resident in France James agreed, saying: “I think it’s rubbish and outdated.”

Feminist group “Osez le féminisme” denounced it in 2016 as a competition based on “a brutal rivalry between women” and in 2022 lodged an unssuccesful legal challenge which argued that anti-discrimination laws forbid giving someone a job merely because they are pretty.

French journalist and blogger, Raphaëlle Peltier, had also warned in an interview for Le Monde newspaper in 2014 that Miss France challenge could send the wrong message to young girls, who might believe that they have to be “pretty, thin, tall, etc. to be successful”.

But former Miss France winners Vaimalama Chaves and Camille Cerf disagree and say that participating in the national beauty pageant was an expression of the “freedom of will” and that it was possible to be both Miss France and feminist.

To some, there is nothing sexist in Miss France.

“They are pretty, but we believe there are way more urgent issues,” said Jeannine and Pierre, a retired couple.

Arthur, a Parisian resident, also pointed out that a men’s content does exist. However, “Mister France” challenge is not broadcast on television anymore, because it failed to attract a significant audience.

The organisers of the contest have tried to prove their commitment to feminism over the few last years. The 2019 judging panel included only women and the captain of France women’s national football team, Amandine Henry, was the jury chairman when Miss France 2020 was selected.

This year the jury will again be all-female.

Despite the controversies, the annual contest remains popular in France. As a matter of fact, 7.3 million people watched the TV broadcast of the beauty pageant in 2022, not showing much of a dip from previous years.

The Miss France event was created in 1920 by journalist and writer Maurice de Waleffe and was at first known as La plus belle femme de France (The prettiest woman in France) before getting its current name in 1927.

Miss France 2024 will be broadcast on Saturday, December 16th, 2023 at 9pm on TF1.

By Jean-Baptiste Andrieux

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Cohabitation

The far-right Rassemblement National of three-time presidential candidate Marine Le Pen and current party leader Jordan Bardella are tipped to be the party with most seats after the second round on July 7th.

If the RN and its allies did secure a majority in the Assemblée Nationale – and current polling suggests this is doubtful – Macron would find himself in a “cohabitation“, in which the president and government are from opposing parties.

Post-war France has experienced three such forced marriages. All were between the left and the centre-right with the last from 1997-2002 between President Jacques Chirac and Socialist premier Lionel Jospin.

Cohabitation: What happens in France’s political ‘forced marriages’?

A cohabition between the Macron and his far-right arch-enemies would likely be a much unhappier affair.

While the far-right would be able to implement part of its domestic programme, on, for example, curtailing immigration, only the president can call a referendum or trigger a vote on constitutional changes.

The president, who usually sets foreign and defence policy, could also find his hands tied if the RN appointed nationalist defence and foreign ministers opposed to his worldview.

Coalition

France has spurned coalitions since the post-war 4th Republic (1946-1958) when the country went through 22 governments in 12 years.

Since losing his parliamentary majority in 2022, Macron has sought to cobble together alliances in parliament on a vote-by-vote basis or to force through legislation without a vote rather than form a pact with another party.

The RN or the left could try do the same if they fall short of a majority but a minority government of the far-right or left would likely fail to pass a vote of no confidence.

Aware of the risks, RN leader Bardella has said he will refuse to become prime minister unless he wins an outright majority.

Macron’s camp hopes that in the event of a hung parliament it could form a coalition with moderates of the left and right.

As part of its outreach to possible allies, Macron’s party has not entered candidates in 67 constituencies where centre-right or centre-left candidates are running.

But Macron has limited his options by putting the hard-left La France Insoumise (LFI) — the dominant force in the NFP — on a par with the far-right in what he calls the country’s “extremes”. He accuses LFI of anti-Semitism, which it rejects.

Caretaker government

Another option would be for Macron to appoint a technocratic non-partisan government which all parties could get behind.

Camille Bedock, a political scientist at the Emile Durckheim centre in Bordeaux, cites the example of Italy, where respected former European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi formed a national unity government in 2021 when Italy was in turmoil. It lasted a year-and-a-half.

Bedock said Macron could also decide to leave the current government headed by his party’s Gabriel Attal in place in a caretaker capacity for a year. He could then call new elections.

This would have the benefit of ensuring continuity through the Olympic Games (July 26th – August 11th) when the country will be under intense global scrutiny.

Whether the far-right or left would support such a move, which would effectively buy Macron time to try turn around his presidency, is highly uncertain.

Macron resigns

The most dramatic scenario would see Macron resign if faced with the prospect of being neutered by the far right or the hard left.

Le Pen, who is expected to try succeed Macron in 2027 presidential polls, has warned that he “will have no choice but to resign” in the event of a “political crisis”.

Macron has vowed to remain on office until the end of his second term in 2027, whatever the outcome.

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