Married women, mothers now allowed to compete in Miss Universe pageant as per new rules

New Delhi: In a historic step taken by the organisers of the Miss Universe Beauty Pageant, the officials announced new rules which will allow married women and mothers to compete in the contest. Earlier, women age group between 18 and 28, who have never been married or had children, were only allowed to participate.

The official statement read, “We all believe that women should have agency over their lives and that a human’s personal decisions should not be a barrier to their success.”  In the statement, the organisers also said that they have had a legacy of strong women. The statement also talked about being ‘Beautifully Confident’ and said that the essence of beauty is in who we are. According to a report by The National, the updated rules will come into effect from the 2023 edition.

According to reports, national pageant directors received an email briefing on how the organisation has always strived to evolve with the times and were informed about this decision being a natural next step forward. Earlier, the organisation, under the leadership of MUO’s CEO Amy Emmerich and President Paula Shugart, rebranded the tagline – Miss Universe, Beautifully Confident.

Now, wives and mothers will also be participating in the contest, though an official confirmation about the update is yet to come.

Miss Universe celebrated its 70th edition last year at the Universe Dome in Eilat, Israel, where India’s Harnaaz Sandhu was announced as the winner. Harnaaz was the third Miss Universe from India as Sushmita Sen won the contest in 1994 while Lara Dutta was crowned in the year 2000.