NEW DELHI: Naaz Joshi has done India proud third time over. The 35-year-old Delhi resident has bagged the Miss World Diversity 2019 competing against 14 other international contestants. She was the first transgender in the world to win a coveted international crown against natural born females in 2017.
The Delhi resident portrayed herself as a powerful Indian goddess who stands for shakti, the feminine source of power and women empowerment. Naaz dazzled in a blue lehenga and choli with a headgear in the finale round in Mauritius.
“The crown gives power but also vests a huge responsibility on my shoulders. I aim to work towards bringing transgenders into the mainstream. I want everyone to accept us as we are without any discrimination,” said an elated Naaz after winning the crown.
The handmade Miss World Diversity crown is multi-coloured, depicting equality in diversity. “I have won this crown against all odds but the journey has not been easy… People don’t understand the pain of trans women,” she adds.
Stressing that transgenders have the right to good education and jobs, she asks, “Why should transgenders be relegated to the margins of society? Why should they be begging on roads or dancing at marriages and births? Families should bring them up as normal people, and they should get proper education and have respectable careers. Sexual orientation should not debar a person from leading a normal life.”
Adding further Naaz says, “The Government as well as private sector has a big role to play. They should welcome transgenders in their workforce. Those who are not much educated can work as domestic helps, even be trained as cooks. It is high time we assimilate everyone in society.”
A NIFT graduate and an ace designer, Naaz stole the crown this year with her winning reply to the question about her achievements. When the jury asked her how many crowns she had won so far, she replied smilingly, “The number of crowns don’t matter. What matters is the love I have for my country; the love I have for all those people who supported me through thick and thin. It is because of them that I am standing here today.”
The candidates were tested on various parameters, including talent rounds, project on diversity and equality, personal interview, cultural dress, intro video, evening gown presentation, cocktail dress presentation and national costume presentation.
Apart from the Miss World Diversity title, Naaz also bagged the Best Project, Miss Congeniality, Miss People’s Choice Ambassador and Best National Costume titles.
Born as a female trapped in a male body, Naaz underwent a sex reassignment surgery in 2013 after which she started her modelling career. Apart from being a model, she is also a social activist, speaks on gender sensitisation at various colleges and raises funds for NGOs through her beauty pageants.
Three years back, Naaz launched a platform for married women, Mrs India Home Makers, under which she has done 13 beauty pageants, and sent 18 women for various international pageants.
“Media, especially entertainment media, also has a big role to play in uplifting the status of trans sexual people. They must stop depicting them as abnormal people with garish makeup,” she remarks.