In 2009 the first Miss Woubi beauty pageant was held in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. The event takes its name from an Ivorian slang word (‘Woubi’) meaning ‘effeminate’ — the more feminine partner in a relationship, or as Ivorians put it, the one who “plays the role of the woman”. In 2016, 13 contestants competed in bathing suits and evening wear.

In Ivory Coast, same-sex relations are not illegal, unlike in most African countries, making it the “most permissive place for sexual minorities in the [west African] region” (quoted from The Guardian article linked in the first paragraph).

“But while same-sex sexual acts have never been criminalised here, there are also no specific legal protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Ivorians, making them vulnerable to hostile security forces and, occasionally, angry mobs. As a result, more extravagant assertions of woubi identity are often discouraged by discreet, gender-conforming gay men, who pride themselves on projecting masculinity and moving through the straight world undetected. The Miss Woubi pageant is an attempt to break down this barrier and bring factions of Abidjan’s gay world together, if only for an evening, say the organisers.” (The Guardian)

The pageant has been criticised by some of Ivory Coast’s gender-variant population:

“The pageant is also not without controversy. Some Ivorian sexual minorities have criticised Miss Woubi for being insufficiently inclusive, especially when it comes to travestis, meaning people who were born anatomically male but identify and live as women on a full- or part-time basis. (Very few Ivorians identify as ‘transgender’, though there is a sizeable travesti population.) Latiyah, a travesti who sat in the audience Saturday night, said the event seemed designed to honour woubis who dress up as women very rarely, rather than travestis who make female gender presentation part of their daily lives. She attributed this to the fact that gay men in Abidjan are better organised than travestis, with greater support from outside donors. ‘There are a lot of travestis, but we don’t know each other,” Latiyah said. “We need our own association to bring us together.’

The Miss Woubi pageant was closed in 2012 due to the unwanted publicity to the Ivorian government.

Read more about the travesti and other gender-variant identities in Ivory Coast here.