This week, organizers of Maria Jose Unda have announced that Saudi Arabia might send its first contestant this year. A fashion model and influencer claims she’s been chosen to represent the country. Maria Jose Unda, the organization’s coordinator of international relations, stated, “The Miss Universe Organization is currently vetting a potential candidate to represent Saudi Arabia.”
She said, “We’ll decide on the National Director for Saudi Arabia very soon. It’s possible for Saudi Arabia to have a contestant ready before the next competition in September in Mexico.”
The statement followed Saudi model Rumy al-Qahtani causing a stir online in late March. She posted to her hundreds of thousands of Instagram followers, about feeling “honored” to represent Saudi Arabia at the upcoming Miss Universe event. The post featured pictures of Qahtani, a 27-year-old from Riyadh, wearing a sequined dress and holding the green Saudi flag.
Less than a week later, Miss Universe issued a statement referring to Qahtani’s post as “false and misleading” and saying no selection process had been carried out in the Gulf kingdom. Fielding a Miss Universe candidate, if it happens, would mark another step in Saudi Arabia’s effort to soften its image as Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the de facto ruler, tries to lure tourists and investors.
Human rights activists criticize Saudi Arabia, the largest exporter of crude oil globally, for lagging behind on women’s rights. Although the country has lifted past restrictions like the ban on driving and mandatory wearing of abaya robes, activists argue that a personal status law enacted in 2022 still discriminates against women.
From her home in Riyadh, where she lives with her mother and three sisters, Qahtani revealed that she’s in talks to join Miss Universe, but didn’t share more information. She announced, ‘The Miss Universe committee has approached me to represent Saudi Arabia, and we’re currently discussing the opportunity.
Negotiations started but it was during the month of Ramadan and I wasn’t able to respond,” she told AFP in her first interview since her March Instagram post went viral. “We are still negotiating, and hopefully it will result in a happy ending.”
Maria Jose Unda, the Miss Universe official, stated that the process requires a national director to organize a Miss Universe Saudi Arabia pageant to select a delegate to represent the country in Mexico.
She said ,”We don’t know why (Qahtani) decided to run, but if she wants to join the Saudi Arabia pageant, she must go through the same selection process as everyone else,”
Qahtani told AFP that she had taken part in various pageants in the Middle East and Europe before. She showed several sashes she said she won at these competitions. She said she faced many unexpected questions about Saudi Arabia while competing in beauty pageants worldwide. One contestant in Europe even asked if she stored barrels of crude oil in her house.
She’s been trying to avoid upsetting people in Saudi Arabia who don’t like her clothes or a photo she posted on Instagram last year, where she was wrapped in the Saudi flag.
She said “There were some negative comments about the way I dress and when I pictured myself with the flag wearing what people considered immodest clothing,”
She said, “Many sports supporters imagine themselves with the flag the same way I did. In beauty pageants, each girl carries her own country’s flag, so I didn’t mean anything offensive at all,”Fawzia Ayed, Rumy’s mother, told AFP that she hoped her daughter would persevere despite the criticism.
“I always tell her to carry on, and that she has come a long way for a Saudi girl. Before, society was closed and strict,” she said. “Rumy has encouraged a lot of girls. I see that many contact her and ask her how she has reached this level, and that they would like also to participate.”
