Miss France contest is sued over selection criteria |
A French feminist organisation is suing the promoters of the Miss France beauty contest in an employment court. The "Osez le feminisme" (Dare to be a Feminist) group, along with three unsuccessful contestants, claim the promoters use discriminatory criteria to select participants. Endemol Production, which makes the annual TV programme screened on the TF1 channel, is also being sued by the plaintiffs, who say the companies are in breach of French labour law by obliging contestants to be more than 1.70 metres tall, single, and "representative of beauty." France’s labour code forbids companies from discriminating on the basis of "morals, age, family status or physical appearance," observed Violaine De Filippis-Abate, a lawyer for Osez le feminisme. The case, which has been filed in the Paris suburb of Bobigny, will hinge on whether magistrates recognise contestants as being de facto employees of the competition’s organisers and the television company.