Let’s Go Live In Iceland — and Follow Miss Iceland’s Lead

Iceland is officially the best country for working women, according to the World Economic Forum: The gender gap is the narrowest in the world, and women are given more equal opportunities from a young age. So maybe, when you’re from a place less rampant with misogyny, you are less likely to tolerate sexism. Consider Miss Iceland, Arna Ýr Jónsdóttir, who dropped out of a Las Vegas pageant when the owner told her she was too big to compete.

“If the owner of the contest really wants me to lose weight and doesn’t like me the way I am, then he doesn’t deserve to have me in the Top 10,” Arna Ýr Jónsdóttir told Iceland Monitor after quitting the Miss Grand International pageant. “Yes, my shoulders are a bit broader than the other girls’ but that is because I was a member of the Icelandic national athletics team and I am proud of that… Personally, I think I’m fine as I am.”

Iceland Monitor reports that the pageant representatives told Jónsdóttir “stop eating breakfast, eat just salad for lunch and drink water every evening until the contest.” They also claim the owner told her she’s “too fat and needs to lose weight before the grand final on Tuesday.”

According to PEOPLE, Jónsdóttir left a letter for the owner, saying, “If you are going to do an international beauty pageant, you at least have to be able to see international beauty.” 2016 has been the year the pageant stars stopped putting up with sexist commentary, and we are all for it.