The World Before Her Documentary
We have seen in India that female gender roles can be vastly different depending on which
caste, religion, or economic status you are born into. There are females in India who are
very similar to American culture and other females that are in no way like western culture.
The roles and expectations of women in India are varied for many reasons. The females
that live in the slums from the book Behind the Beautiful Forevers, definitely have more
freedom and equality than the pageant or Hindu fundamentalist girls we saw in The World
Before Her.
The pageant girls in The World Before Her had a lot of freedom. The freedom they
enjoyed, however, did have limits. They were able to follow their dreams as individuals
rather than conforming to the popular beliefs of many Indian people in limited ways.
The pageant girls highlighted in the documentary had the support of their families. Ruhi
came from what appeared to be a middle class family who very much wanted her to win
the pageant. Winning Miss India World was Ruhi’s dream, but she also knew that dream
might not come true. She was realistic about the possibility of not winning, and stated that
she would use the pageant exposure to move up and make a name for herself in the world.
Ruhi’s forward thinking and future plans from the pageant publicity makes her role as a
pageant girl less superficial.
The pageant girl’s freedom was impeded during the bikini portion of the pageant. The
