Perhaps no other major pageant could boast such diversity as Miss World. For starters, the sheer level of participation is breathtaking. But there is another far more deeper sense of diversity in the pageant. A quick look at either the Top 5, Top 6 or Top 7 of the pageant for the last 5 years would reveal that Miss World is diverse as ever. For example, none of the Top 7 in 2009 made it on the Top 7 in 2010. In 2011, only Venezuela was able to sustain its last year’s performance but must be taken into note that none of the countries who finished Top 7 in 2011 made it once again in 2012.
Here’s a quick look at the Top5/6/7 of the Miss World for the last 5 years.
Even the winners of the Miss World pageant is a diverse bunch. Although Miss World is usually Euro friendly (from 2005-2009 all winners are European), the crown was basically passed from one continent to another in the last 5 years which began in Europe then to North America before being passed to South America and then to Asia. In 2013, the Asian back-to-back win was basically a first. Contrast that with Miss Universe who told its Facebook followers that the names of the last 6 Miss Universe winners all ended in “a”. The fact that the last 6 winners of Miss Universe have Latin origins (with Angola being a former Portuguese colony, Olivia is of Italian descent and that Latin derived languages uses “a” at the end of nouns to indicate female gender), shows that Miss Universe is scant with diversity.
One reason perhaps why there is high level of diversity at Miss World is that the pageant had been traveling to so many nations thus the perspective of beauty could dramatically be influenced by local tastes. It could also be deliberate as the high participation rate at the pageant warrant a diversity in the winners otherwise it would discourage other nations from participating. Whatever the reason though, it is remarkable that Miss World these days is pretty much resistant to trends. For a pageant that does not shy away from back to back wins in the past, this is a welcome news for all small countries yearning to have a glory of their own.
