Miss Universe Changes Rules After 70 Years, Allows Moms and Married Women to Join

After 70 years, the prestigious Miss Universe pageant is changing its eligibility rules to allow moms and married women to compete in the beauty pageant.

According to The National, the new rule will take effect for Miss Universe 2023 as preliminary competitions are expected later this year in many participating countries. However, it's still unclear if the organization will also adjust the age bracket. For decades, single and childless women between 18 to 28 years old have been the standard eligibility requirements.

Josh Yugen, an executive for Miss Universe Organization, said that the pageant will now be more inclusive and will break stereotypes and the stigma of "the old society."

Last year, Miss Universe also made history by allowing Miss Universe Bahrain Manar Nadeem Deyani to don fully-covered activewear for the swimsuit competition. It was well-received with loud cheers from the crowd.

A few years ago, Miss Universe Spain Angela Ponce was the first transgender contestant in the beauty pageant. Her eligibility opened up after Miss Universe Canada Jenna Talackova sued the organization in 2015 for rejecting her because she was not naturally born a female, prompting an adjustment in the rules.

It's about time!

Miss Universe 2020 Andrea Meza from Mexico told Insider it's about time the beauty pageant embraced the change and opened the competition to women with families. She said that there are plenty of married women or women with kids, who are still young, and who have always wanted to join the pageants as a stepping stone to their other aspirations.

Meza also said that the previous rules have been sexist and unrealistic. While becoming Miss Universe is a highly demanding job for an entire year, she said that married women and moms could take on the challenge in the same way that many of these women have been taking leadership roles in the government or business.

Incidentally, days after Meza won, the Miss Universe Organization was mobbed with accusations that she was married in 2019 based on old photos she posted on Instagram. Meza explained that it was a photo shoot for a Mexican brand.

"We thought it was funny to prank our friends by only writing the date on the caption," Meza said after several of her followers commented that she would no longer be able to compete in Miss Universe.

Dethroned for being pregnant

In 1994, Puerto Rico's Miss Universe winner, Brenda Robles, lost her crown because the organization found out she was pregnant during the competition. More than 20 years later, the same thing would happen to Joyce Prado, who won Miss Universe Bolivia. She relinquished all of her titles and roles with the organization.

According to Yahoo! Life, Prado breached the contract after she shared her personal news on social media. She was eight weeks pregnant at that time.

While some said Prado should have known that she couldn't get pregnant under her Miss Universe contract, others praised her for speaking out and choosing the baby over the crown. Today, Prado is a happily married mom to a toddler.