A New York woman is challenging the rules of Miss America and Miss World that disqualify mothers from participating in the beauty pageants. Danielle Hazel, who had a son at 19, expressed her dismay when she learned of this restriction. "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," Hazel remarked at Central Park's Women's Rights Pioneers Monument in New York.
Gloria Allred, Hazel's lawyer, filed a complaint with the city's Commission on Human Rights, arguing that the rules deny mothers significant business and cultural opportunities based solely on their parental status. Allred emphasized that these restrictions were based on outdated stereotypes. "This exclusion is degrading to Danielle as it is based upon the antiquated stereotype that women cannot be both a mother and be beautiful, poised, passionate, talented and philanthropic," Allred says.
The pageant organizations' representatives did not immediately respond to requests for comment, and the human rights commission declined to comment on active investigations. Allred has previously succeeded in overturning a similar rule in California, leading Miss Universe to abolish a 70-year-old global ban on mothers. Highlighting the injustice of such discrimination, Allred noted, "An individual's status as a parent should not carry a stigma." Veronika Didusenko, crowned Miss Ukraine 2018 before losing her title when it was discovered she was a mother, joined Hazel's cause and is seeking relief from the European Court of Human Rights.
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Word count: 250 (This story was generated by Newser's AI chatbot. Source: the AP)
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