A beauty pageant took place in Peru on October 29; however, it was no ordinary pageant. Like the Miss America pageant, the women in the Miss Peru pageant spoke up against problems in society, just like how Miss Texas called out President Trump for his take on the events that unfolded in Charlottesville.

Camille Canicoba Llaro, representing Lima, went first and gave her “measurements” as “2,202 cases of murdered women reported in the last nine years in my country.”

The second contestant, Melina Machuca, represented the department of Cajamarca, and gave her measurements as “more than 80 percent of women in my city suffer from violence.”

The winner of the contest, Romina Lozana, gave her measurements as the “3,114 women are victims of trafficking up until 2014.”

This event was proven to be planned because as these women were giving their “measurements,” the pageant organizers put up pictures of women who had been victims of violence across a big screen.

The hashtag #MisMedidasSon, which translated to “my measurements are,” immediately began trending in Peru. Particularly in this country, there are a lot of cases of gender-based violence. According to Human Rights Watch, “some 700 women were murdered in Peru between 2009 and 2015” (VOX).

Ashley Bui-Tran (11) thinks that this is a big step forward for women, especially women in developing countries. “When these women use their platform to speak up about the injustices that are occurring in society, they bring awareness to the issues many face on a daily,” she says. “I applaud them for deviating from degrading pageant traditions that pit women against each other; instead, they’re unifying the women in their country against violence.”

First lady Nancy Lange also praised the Miss Peru contestants, tweeting that “violence against women has to stop.” She then thanked them for “being part of a struggle that belongs to us all” (NPR).