The Miss Universe pageant is making steps to become more inclusive.
In 2023, mothers and wives will now be allowed to compete in the 72nd Miss Universe Pageant.
The current rule is that only single women between the ages of 18 and 28 who have never been married or have children are eligible to compete, The New York Post reports.
A source affiliated with the pageant confirmed to Insider that the age bracket will not change.
“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,” an internal memo seen by The National said.
Josh Yugen, chief executive of Yugen Group and the national director of Miss Universe Bahrain, told The National his thoughts on this new change.
Miss Universe pageant makes 'inclusive' change, allows wives, mothers to compete https://t.co/LLnpvdXBpS pic.twitter.com/C6lVYniy7n
— New York Post (@nypost) August 10, 2022
“The Miss Universe Organization is always the greatest and most innovative platform of its kind and now it will be more inclusive and welcoming to mothers and married women. For me, this is aligned with what I have been fighting for — breaking stereotypes and unlearning the stigma that the old society has forced on us from many many decades ago,” he said.
Andrea Meza, who was crowned Miss Universe 2020, told Insider that she honestly loves that this is happening.
“Just like society changes and women are now occupying leadership positions where in the past only men could, it was about time pageants changed and opened up to women with families,” she said.
She added, “There are a lot of women that got married young or had kids in their early 20s and they always wanted to participate in Miss Universe but couldn’t because of the rules. Now those women can start or boost their careers in entertainment because of these changes.”