The treatment of women by society as a whole is a hot-button issue at the moment. Between an alarmingly large number of celebrities being accused of sexual harassment and assault, the constant debate about access to things like birth control and family-planning services, and portrayals of women in popular media, it feels at times like it's never been harder to be a girl.

One industry that has definitely felt a large amount of push-back from these debates has been that of beauty pageants. A longtime tradition worldwide for decades, these events have come under fire by many groups for supposedly promoting the most superficial aspects of women and essentially turning them into objects. While this isn't a new debate, it definitely feels more timely than ever.

With this in mind, the contestants at the recent Miss Peru event decided to take their country's stance on gender violence seriously and do something about it, in an especially impressive protest...

The Miss Peru pageant is ultimately like any other beauty pageant: contestants representing their part of the country are called up one at a time, asked to give their measurements, and then answer questions and show off talents as requested by the judges. All while looking gorgeous of course.

However, this year things were flipped on their head quite a bit. Instead of giving their measurements, each contestant decided to give statistics on femicide and gendered violence in their country, which they argued are subjects that the Peruvian government takes too lightly (the grand majority of cases of violence against women in Peru go unpunished).

The whole thing was broadcast on live TV, and of course has since been captured for viewing on the internet. Check out the video below to see much of how the protest unfolded.

What do you think of these women's protest?