Now, married women and mothers can also participate in Miss Universe beauty pageant

Miss Universe competition eligibility rules: Miss Universe beauty pageant is expanding and it has now upgraded its eligibility rules by allowing mothers and married women to participate.

It is undoubtedly a historic decision by the Miss Universe beauty pageant as it has upgraded the competition's eligibility rules.

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Miss Universe 2020

As per the report, Marital status and parental status will no longer be the criteria for eligibility for contestants, starting in 2023. The Miss Universe rules used to require that winners be single and maintain their status as such throughout their reign as the title.

In the meanwhile, Miss Universe 2020 winner Andrea Meza (of Mexico) praised the upgradation of rules. She said that she loved the development. She further said that women are now occupying leadership positions where in the past only men could and thus, it was about time pageants changed and opened up to women with families.

Image Source: Twitter

She also criticised the current guidelines as being "sexist" and "unrealistic" in choosing a winner that would appeal to the largest audience.

She added that a few people were against these changes as they wanted to see a single beautiful woman who was available for a relationship.

Image Source: Twitter

Recently, India's Harnaaz Sandhu was crowned Miss Universe 2021. She hails from Punjab and represented India at the 70th Miss Universe 2021 pageant. Prior to Harnaaz, only two Indians had won the Miss Universe title- Sushmita Sen in 1994 and Lara Dutta in 2000.