Tuesday, September 17, 2024
Year : 2, Issue: 37
A New York woman is challenging the longstanding rules of Miss America and Miss World that disqualify mothers from their beauty pageants.
Danielle Hazel said Monday that she’s always dreamed of entering the competitions but was devastated to learn that she’s no longer eligible because she had a son when she was just 19 years old.
“When I told Zion, who is now 6 years old, about these rules he had an immediate gut reaction: he said that these rules are stupid,” she said, speaking at the Women’s Rights Pioneers Monument in New York’s Central Park. “His sense of fairness at only 6 years old tells him that this is unjust and makes no sense.”
Hazel’s lawyer, Gloria Allred, said a complaint sent Monday to the city’s Commission on Human Rights seeks an end to the requirements because they deny and exclude mothers from an “important business and cultural opportunity” simply because of their status as parents.
Spokespersons for the Miss America and Miss World pageant organizations didn’t immediately respond to emails seeking comment Monday.
Allred noted that she previously had success challenging a similar rule for a California mother denied eligibility to compete in the Miss California pageant, which is part of the Miss Universe and Miss USA organizations.
The discrimination complaint filed by Andrea Quiroga with the California Civil Rights Department prompted Miss Universe to eliminate its 70-year-old rule, which was imposed worldwide through its affiliated organizations, Allred said.
Source: Anadolu Agency
