Beauty and brains: Can they co-exist?

Nov 11, 2013

It has been said over and over again that you cannot find someone who is beautiful, intelligent and has a great personality. How true is this?

It has been said over and over again that you cannot find someone who is beautiful, intelligent and has a great personality. How true is this? Gloria Nakajubi and Carol Natukunda explore the subject

We see it every year during the Miss Uganda beauty pageant. Most of the candidates are stunning and have equal chances of winning the title.

But when it comes to the question and answer session, some cannot answer the simplest of questions. There is the oh-I-forgot-the-answer and the I am-mentally-blocked moments. Some girls are nothing more than a pretty face; and when they start talking, you realise they are not that intelligent. So, can beauty and brains co-exist?

In the theatre and films, there are very beautiful faces, but seldom a brain behind them. Why is this so? What do you do with beauty if the brain is wanting?

It appears those already blessed with physical appearances do not seem to put in a little more effort to impress, according to psychologists.

“Beautiful women and handsome men become lazy and spoilt when they are toddlers. Because they are favoured and attract attention, they tend to sit back, hence we refer to them as compressed, and with no ideas to offer,” Rev. Peter Matovu, the director of the Guidance and Counselling Centre at Nkumba University, says.

He explains that upbringing matters. “Someone who knows she has to prove herself from a young age, even if she is beautiful, never disappoints,” Matovu says.

For a long time, Solange Matovu, a clinical psychology postgraduate student at Makerere University, considered herself good looking, but it had its bad aspects.

“I really thought that being pretty was enough, but it was not the case. I was badly brought up and the sort of men I liked did not like me because once they got beyond the looks, I could not communicate at their level. I woke up and got myself an education, started working hard and suddenly looks were not very important at all,” Matovu says.

Wilson Tumwebaze, a director of studies at a secondary school in Kampala, agrees. He argues that beautiful women have brains, but some think they do not need to work hard when they can get everything easily, since they have stunning looks and great bodies that drive men nuts. And this insanity, he says, makes people worship and favour them.

Beautiful = smartness

Some women seem to be endowed with this rare attribute. One such woman is Princess Elizabeth Bagaya. A qualified lawyer from Cambridge University, Bagaya was the first woman from East Africa to be admitted to the English Bar.

She could have gone on to practice law since she had the brains, but her beauty also pretty much played in her favour — soon she was the hottest item for the international modelling agencies and biggest fashion magazines on the globe. And even though she is way past her heyday, Bagaya is still as striking as she is intelligent.

She is not the only one. We have other beauties running the show. Winnie Byanyima, now the head of Oxfam International, is arguably one of those with this rare combination of beauty and brains. She is an engineer by profession and at the same time she is striking.

Dr. Olive Kigongo, the head of the National Chamber of Commerce and Beatrice Kiraso, the former EAC head of political integration, are also austerely good looking, yet sharp when it comes to issues of economics and business.

Nathan Nandala Mafabi, the leader of opposition in Parliament, believes that beautiful women can as well be intelligent. He says he has learnt to appreciate this from his wife whose counsel is always sought by other people.

“My wife is very beautiful and intelligent and she is the one who is running the family businesses as I pursue my political career,” Mafabi says.

Macklynn Kemigisha, a communications officer at the British Council, is another positive woman who will not let such stereotypes, as she calls it, get to her head.

“Look at me, I am beautiful and intelligent as well and I am working to see that such stereotypes are proved wrong because they keep women on the sidelines,” Kemigisha says.

Phyllis Wanjiru, an employee with Capital FM, says these days, there are so many beautiful women who have taken on high public offices because of their academic qualifications other than their looks.

“For instance, Amelia Kyambadde (trade minister) and Allen Kagina (URA boss) are very beautiful ladies with brains,” Wanjiru says.

Rena Nalumansi, a budding musician, says to her, beauty is just complimentary. “I should say maybe beautiful girls are just smart and when they achieve things faster, people think it is because of their looks, which is not true,” Nalumansi says.

What’s beauty and brains?

Ahmed Hadji, the team leader African Youth Development Link, feels that beauty is beyond skin deep and ultimately, everyone is judged by the things they have done, not how appealing they look.

“The Bad Blacks of this world cannot be able to sustain what they have achieved because they lack the brains to do so,” Hadji says.

He says many successful women who have been able to stay at the top of their careers have done so because of intelligence, not their looks. “People look at people’s beauty and imagine they have made it up there because of that. Though this can be true, its sustainability cannot be guaranteed,” he says.

Grace Byarugaba, the Woman MP for Isingiro district, says at the end of the day, it is intelligence that counts. Byarugaba notes that beautiful girls face a number of challenges as they move up the ladder and that includes sexual harassment.

“When they fall off the path, people think they are not intelligent,” she says. She notes that when the girls are less disrupted, they concentrate more and may come out as winners.

Perry Aritua, the executive director of Women’s Democracy Network, Uganda, says the topic of beauty and brains is just one of society’s biases.

“For heaven’s sake, we have beautiful women around us who can articulate issues,” Aritua says.

Dr. Mohammed Kiggundu, the chairperson Makerere University Academic Staff Association, says: “I think this goes down to lack of exposure. When people come across one or two beautiful girls who are dense, they start generalising and society actually picks up the perception.”

Bottom line

Rev. Matovu says inner beauty counts. “This is the beauty that comes with qualities like discipline, attitude, kindness, politeness, sacrifice, forgiveness, loyalty, sympathy and empathy.

“Brains is not only about knowledge and talent, it is also about hard work. We have to be intelligent by our hard work. A successful person has a combination of beauty and brains.

"If you have a positive attitude towards life, then a positive aura surrounds you, which is well-reflected by your personality,” Matovu says.

He adds that society tends to pay closer attention to people they find attractive than the average person. “If people think a certain Mary is beautiful, very organised and a team player, they will see her as more organised than she actually is, better than others they find less attractive,” Matovu says.

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