The association “Osez le Féminisme” saw its requests rejected by the labor court of Bobigny. The activists demanded the abolition of the registration conditions.
Does the Miss France competition promote the “discrimination”? What is a truism for some is a very serious workhorse for the association “Dare Feminism“. This Friday, January 6, the Bobigny court decided to reject the demands of feminist activists, who described the conditions for entering the competition (age, height, marital status, etc.) as “illegal», and wanted to impose a work contract for the candidates in the election.
The legal action dates back to October 2021, launched by the association, which supported three women who had to give up the competition because they did not respect the conditions of registration.
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“Dare feminismwas based on a 2013 court decision, concerning the Mister France competition, which had qualified the candidates as “employeesfrom the organizer. As a result, labor law would apply to Miss candidates for the national crown. This would prohibit, in practice in recruitment, most of the criteria established by the Miss France committee, which concern the appearance of the candidates, their marital status or their past behavior.
Alexia Laroche-Joubert, the producer of the annual show and president of the Miss France company, had nevertheless modified the conditions of access to the competition last June. She had detailed her decisions with the Figaro TV Magazine : “From now on, I only ask that young women be over 18, be at least 1.70 meters tall – because they wear designer dresses and there is a minimum size requirement – and be female gender in the civil status, which was already the case before. Finally, to preserve the spirit of the values of Miss France, the candidates who present themselves must not have made pornographic films or photographs or have had criminally reprehensible remarks. The committees then adapt as they wish“.
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The obligation of celibacy has since disappeared, and tattoos are now accepted. Finally, if restorative surgery is accepted, aesthetic interventions remain prohibited, Alexia Laroche-Joubert refusing in this area any “proselytizing among young girls who watch Miss France“. An opening which had allowed various candidacies, and even a transgender person (a man who became a woman in the civil status), arrived second runner-up in the election of Miss Paris.
Legal action, political fight
The reform was not enough, however, for the association “Dare Feminism”, according to which the remaining criteria, in particular the physical size, constitute “discrimination in hiring“. Its requests rejected, the association said to take note of a decision “intolerable which perpetuates a discriminatory and illegal recruitment processand reserves the right to appeal.
In a press release this Friday, the activists took on the political struggle that underpinned their legal action: they denounce a competition “from a tradition inherited from the beginning of the 20th century, which consisted in electing the most deserving woman by a committee called “the committee of good fathers of families”“. Maurice de Waleffe, creator of the national competition, is thus described as “far-right journalist“. Angry, the association points out that “the action of feminists to enforce women’s rights is unfortunately still essential“.
When the file was opened, Alexia Laroche-Joubert had in return stressed to France Info that “I don’t know if the three people who are making this request are candidates who were not admitted to the regional elections. What is certain is that they are members of the Osez le féminisme association, one of which is on the board of directors. As luck would have it…“The businesswoman and presenter was surprised that the feminist collective was waging a struggle”archaic“: “I can’t stand this guilt of these young women, who, by choice, participate in the program. This is what is archaic: not considering that women can decide what they are going to do with their lives».