Diversity reigns at Miss Jamaica World 2024
Published:Friday | September 13, 2024 | 12:05 AMShanel Lemmie/Staff Reporter
Diversity reigned at the 2024 staging of the Miss Jamaica World pageant. For years, contestants have chosen sleek, straight tresses, making Afros and other natural hairstyles a rare commodity in beauty pageants both locally and abroad for those of African descent. In 2017, Davina Bennett made waves when she represented Jamaica at the Miss Universe pageant in her Afro and was heralded for her representation of black beauty. Since then, at pageants all over the world, there have been rising numbers of black women donning their natural hair on the beauty queen stage.
The most recent staging of the Miss Jamaica World pageant reflected that trend, with seven contestants sporting their Afro-textured hair and two in braids in their promotional photos.
While on coronation night, that number decreased to six, it was still an unprecedented showing.
Musing on the matter, franchise holder Dahlia Harris told Living, “I think one of the things we wanted them to feel is that beauty comes in different forms and that at Miss Jamaica World, we don’t subscribe to a singular look of beauty. Jamaican women are beautiful, and we wanted everyone to feel that way. And believe me, some of them came, and you heard them with that doubt about ‘Am I really beautiful?’ and we just wanted them to realise that in themselves, and I think we achieved that.”
This year’s winner of the pageant is also a dark-skinned woman who often wears her hair in kinkier textures.
While Harris said skin tone and hair texture were some diversifying factors from this year’s crop of ladies, the women were diverse in many other ways.
“It was an interesting one because I think this was one of the most diverse set of girls in terms of age, experiences, background. So one of the things that I wanted to see was how [we could] help each of them to feel fulfilled at the end of the process, and I’m hoping that we achieved that.”
Alongside Bennett in the winning court, last Friday were 21-year-old Jamila McGowan and 25-year-old Shanelle Kellyman as first and second runners-up, respectively.
Congratulating the court of women, Harris said, “You know, to be honest, whatever three they gave me out of the 20 [girls], I would have been fine.”
She continued, “I like to tell my team that at the end of the day, we can nurture them, and we can have our own emotions, but when they walk into the pre-judging room, that’s really what makes the difference. And then what you see on stage really enhances the engagement they already have with the judges, and that’s how it is at Miss World. I trust the judges every year, and since I’ve been [a] franchise holder, they have never led me wrong.”
Bennett will represent Jamaica in the 72nd Miss World pageant. The date and location of the event have not yet been announced.