Burkina Faso has started prioritising brains over beauty for young women. In June 2026, the Burkinabe government banned all beauty contests in the country. After two months, it introduced HAKILI Mousso, which was a science competition where 84 young ladies competed in mathematics, physics and chemistry.
This development poses an important question: whether the country is making a progressive move in fighting the objectification of women or just creating new benchmarks for controlling women by the state.
The objective of the HAKILI Mousso contest is to inspire young women to consider career choices in the fields of science, technology, and engineering. The winners were rewarded for their successes with prizes and scholarship grants. After the competition, the president of Burkina Faso, Ibrahim Traoré, congratulated the winners and inspired them to believe in themselves.
The military-backed regime has placed emphasis on safeguarding the cultural identity, social values, and dignity of the country's people. According to a report released by the Ministry of Communication, Culture, Arts, and Tourism on 8 June, beauty pageants were suspended temporarily.
The initiative has grabbed a lot of eyeballs on social media. Supporters are seeing the move as a progressive step in not treating women like objects. One X user commented, "Science competitions over pageants? Big move I say invest in our girls' minds, that is the real empowerment. Our young women belong in labs too." Another Instagram user commented, "👏🏿👏🏿👏🏿 this is how you empower women."
On the other hand, the move has also raised doubts regarding the freedom of choice for women. Critics have expressed their fears that there is no need to hold off on beauty contests to propagate science. Women can take part in science as well as in beauty contests.
One person questioned the narrative of controlling women's choices, saying, "Can we change this narrative that all women want to get into STEM!!! 😢😢 It's a good initiative, but can we also appreciate that some are blessed in the creative fields which are equally important." One Instagram user commented, "Nothing wrong with doing both. Not everybody can be a scientist. Society can accommodate all types of endeavors."
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