Julia Morley - President of Miss World, is not only one of the most powerful figures in the beauty industry but also a pioneer in fighting against apartheid and promoting gender equality.
According to Mirror, she was a pioneer in promoting empowerment and ensuring that a black contestant could participate in Miss World in the context of serious apartheid in South Africa.
Before that, Ms. Morley received information from a South African citizen that they had organized a separate beauty pageant but could not send a black contestant to Miss World 1970.
From there, Ms. Morley decided to do something to change this. We want (our contest) to be everyone-incentive that is our rule, Ms. Morley shared.
Thanks to that, at Miss World 1970, two contestants representing South Africa were sent to compete: Jillian Jessop - a white contestant, and Pearl Jansen, a black contestant.
The 1970 Miss World pageant held at the Royal Albert Hall in London became a historic event not only because of the participation of diverse contestants but also because of the strong reactions from the feminism movement.
In this contest, Pearl Jansen excellently won the 1st runner-up position. Meanwhile, the title of Miss Miss belongs to Jennifer Hosten from Grenada - another black beauty.
Jennifer is also the first black person to win an international beauty pageant.
This result not only marks a big step forward in recognizing diverse and equal beauty but also affirms that beauty pageants can become a foundation for social change.
It was a great moment but when I asked Pearl to come to the Albert Hall, I didnt realise it was such a big deal, Morley said.
She also shared that Pearl and Jillians story had positive interactions, something she didnt expect at the time.
However, despite Morley's significant contributions to racial equality in the Miss World contest, she has also become a target for feminists and public opinion.
The 1970 Miss World contest season caused a lot of controversy about the results. Public opinion opposes and believes that allowing 2 black contestants to achieve the highest results is "ethnicity" and there is fraud in the results.
feminists protested at the final night of the pageant by throwing flour and fruit at host Bob Hope. The audience shouted, blew whistles and threw smoke bombs, spreading leaflets across the stage, creating a chaotic scene in the competition.
Morley later shared that although she did not understand the reasons behind those actions at the time, she felt the need to respect their point of view: They needed a platform to promote themselves and that was only fair.
After her husband Eric Morley - the founder of Miss World, passed away in 2000, Julia Morley continued to take over the contest with passion and compassion.
She not only maintains the values that the contest has built over the past decades but also expands the scale of the contest to the whole world.
She always emphasized that the contest needed to reflect the diversity of the modern world and continue to fight for equality in all forms.
