MANILA, Philippines – After allowing transgender females to compete in Miss Universe 2018, transgender women were allowed to compete. Miss Universe 2018 pageant, Spain’s Angela Ponce made history. Now as a step towards being much more “inclusive,” Miss Universe has revealed that mothers and married women can now participate in the world’s largest pageant, starting in 2023.
As per the official Instagram account of the director of national for Miss Universe Dominican Republic, Magali Febles The Miss Universe Organization (MUO) will begin accepting married women and mothers of children at the start of the 72nd Miss Universe pageant season in 2023 as a number of countries have already decided on their contestants for the 2022 edition in December.
The President of the Miss France Society, Alexia Laruche-Joubert said in an interview she conducted on The Limited Times news portal on July 13, that it was an advancement of her Miss France regulation for 2023 she stated she believed that “the ban on married women and/or mothers from participating is also over.”
The pageant previously allowed single women who had not had children or were married. The pageant has also previously eliminated the requirement for height, however, the age requirements remain the same, which is the age of 18 up to.
Miss Universe’s decision was made nearly three years after the former Miss Ukraine Veronika Didusenko was disqualified for having a child. In reaction, Veronika launched @righttobeamother, and filed a lawsuit to rebuke Miss World.
It is interesting to note that The Miss International Organization, through its spokesperson Stephen Diaz (@DiazStephen) wrote in a tweet that said, “Change is good but there’s a reason why our pageant is meant for single ladies at a certain age bracket. The presence of such limitation gives extra value to the title because you got to have one shot at it while you’re still young and is eligible.”
Although not all countries and societies may agree with this new policy, however, it is interesting to observe whether or not this rule is allowed and there is a possibility that the Miss Universe Organization (MUO) has had a change of mind after remaining steadfast on this issue for the past seven years.
In actual fact, in the year 1957 when Miss USA was selected as the Miss USA winner was selected at the same time in the same year as Miss Universe winner, Miss USA Leona Gage was removed from her title within just 24 hours after being announced as the winner. It was revealed that she had lied about her age and said she was divorced, remarried and was the mother of two children. Following her dethronement, Leona continued to get married four times!
“Only allowing women who have never been married or had children to compete sends the dangerous message that: Motherhood isn’t beautiful, Motherhood marks the end of a career, Motherhood limits your potential,” Students for Life of America wrote in a blog post.
It is possible to recall that in 1994 when the Indian Sushmita Sen was named Miss Universe 1994 in the Philippines and was asked the question in the final Question & Answer segment which included the question “What for you is the essence of being a woman?” was:
As a coincidence, the current Miss Universe when mothers and wives are permitted to be part of the contest originated from India, Harnaaz Sandhu.
Related: ‘The Philippines is my entire heart’ Miss Universe 2021 Harnaaz Sandhu declares the Philippines “the best”
What happens with this controversial rule will be revealed in the near future. Keep an eye on the news!