A New York woman filed a complaint Monday against the Miss America and Miss World beauty pageants, alleging discrimination for being a mother.
Danielle Hazel, 25, took her case to the New York City Human Rights Commission after being disqualified from both pageants due to her six-year-old son. “My dream of competing in those pageants remains on hold because of their discriminatory rules, which ban mothers from participating,” Hazel stated.
Represented by prominent women’s rights attorney Gloria Allred, Hazel is challenging the pageants’ eligibility criteria, which require contestants to be unmarried, childless, and not pregnant. “Pregnancy or parenthood should not be a barrier to employment or business opportunities,” Allred said at a press conference. She argued that the rules are based on outdated stereotypes, suggesting that women can’t be both mothers and exhibit the beauty, talent, and philanthropy expected of contestants.
Allred also noted that she had previously filed a similar lawsuit against the Miss Universe pageant.
Controversies have surrounded U.S. beauty pageants in recent years. In May, the 2023 Miss USA and Miss Teen USA winners gave up their crowns, citing mental health concerns, after a top executive of the parent organization stepped down over allegations of a toxic work culture.
Founded in 1921, Miss America is the oldest beauty pageant in the U.S., while Miss USA, started in 1952, was owned by Donald Trump until 2015, the year he launched his first presidential campaign.