A budding beauty queen is challenging the rules of the Miss America and Miss World pageants that she claims disqualify mothers from competing.
Danielle Hazel, 25, always dreamed of entering the competitions but was devastated after learning she is no longer eligible because of her six-year-old son Zion, who she had at 19.
She has now filed a complaint to the New York Commission on Human Rights in a bid to get rid of the requirements on the grounds that the rule denies and excludes mothers from an “important business and cultural opportunity” simply because of their status as parents.
Announcing the complaint at the city’s Women’s Rights Pioneers Monument in Central Park, Ms Hazel was joined by esteemed feminist lawyer Gloria Allred.
“As we stated in Danielle’s filed complaint, 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,” Ms Allred – who has been involved in high-profile cases such as the OJ Simpson trial – said.
“Being pregnant or being a parent is not a crime and should not exclude an individual from employment or business opportunities.
“An individual’s status as a parent should not carry a stigma and no person should have to feel embarrassed, humiliated, or degraded because they have become a parent.”
Ms Hazel added that when she told her son about the rule he said they were “stupid”.
“His sense of fairness at only six years old tells him that this is unjust and makes no sense,” the young mother said.
Joining the pair on Monday was Veronika Didusenko, who was crowned Miss Ukraine in 2018 only to have the title stripped when the Miss World organisation learned that she had a child.
Gloria Allred is an American lawyer known for taking on high-profile and often controversial cases.
She is a founding partner of the law firm Allred, Maroko & Goldberg (AM&G) – which handles more women’s rights cases than any other private firm in the US.
Throughout her 40-year plus career, Ms Allred has represented clients in lawsuits against celebrities including Motley Crue drummer Tommy Lee, Sacha Baron Cohen, R Kelly and Bill Cosby.
She also represented the family of Nicole Brown Simpson during the OJ Simpson murder trial in the 1990s.
In 2018 a Netflix documentary focusing on Ms Allred’s career premiered at the Sundance Film Festival.
Ms Didusenko, who has since advocated for an end to beauty pageant bans on mothers, said she lost her legal challenge in Ukraine but is seeking relief from the European Court of Human Rights.
Stuart Moskovitz, a lawyer for the Miss America pageant, told the New York Post that there was no ban on mothers “only on those with legal custodianship of their children”.
The pageants website states that all those applying for the contest must: Be a US citizen, be a female, be single, have no legal dependents and meet residency requirements for competing in a certain city or state.
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“The only ban is where it’s necessary to protect the welfare of the child,” Mr Moskovitz said, claiming that Miss America works “365 days a year” and is busier than the President of the United States, according to the Post.
He reportedly said “even if there is shared custody that child is jeopardised”, if mothers were to compete.
Representatives for the Miss World pageant did not respond to comment from the Associated Press.
