Miss Universe Fiji 2024, Manshika Prasad, has spoken out against the lack of women empowerment in beauty pageants. Picture: Instagram
Miss Universe Fiji has spoken out against the Miss Universe Organisation, accusing it of failing to empower contestants when they pride themselves in women empowerment and inclusivity.
Manshika Prasad, 24, has slammed the organization for providing an experience that was not empowering.
“I think that it’s very important that collectively all of us girls come together and speak out on our experiences and how not so empowering it was for us. And this organisation is not it.
“I would not even let my daughter do Miss Universe, as long as this organisation is in charge, so someone needs to do something about it,” she said.
@mrssalote Replying to @tloupridephotography Miss Universe Fiji decides to speak out against the Miss Universe Organisation. #greenscreen #greenscreenvideo #missuniverse #missuniverse2024 #missuniversefiji ♬ original sound - I am Ndeshi 🌻
In October, Miss Universe organisation released a statement regarding the confusion about the winner of Miss Universe Fiji since there were concerns and confusion around that.
“There have been conflicting reports regarding the winner of the pageant. While Manshika Prasad was announced as the winner of the Miss Universe Fiji pageant, information posted on the Miss Universe Fiji organisation’s website and official Instagram account suggest that Nadine Roberts was the winner, due to alleged voting irregularities,” the statement said.
While Miss Universe Fiji did not get into detail about what was happening behind-scenes, there has been a lot of speculation after Miss South Africa Mia le Roux withdrew from the beauty pageant just a day before the finale due to health reasons, according to the Miss SA organisation.
Online users were speculating that there was more to what led to her withdrawal.
X user @Penelope_Makala commented, “Was she discriminated against because of her disability? What really transpired because we cannot assume.”
Was she discriminated against because of her disability? What really transpired because we cannot assume 😳
— Penelope Makala (@Penelope_Makala) November 19, 2024
We want the truth !!
X user @busiwe_bubu commented, “Something is definitely off.”
Something is definitely off
— boobaby (@busiwe_bubu) November 18, 2024
Although netizens speculated that there was more to her withdrawal, le Roux took to Instagram on Wednesday afternoon to explain that she had in fact suffered from severe vertigo.
“Vertigo is a condition where it feels like you are dizzy and there’s a sense of the world spinning around you. It’s very intense and can cause major issues with your imbalance,” she said.
She further said that it was not easy to make the decision to withdraw from the prestigious beauty pageant however she will continue to serve as Miss SA.
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