Miss Universe Pageant Scraps Upper Age Limit, Historic Change! (Image:www.instagram.com/missuniverse)
Upper age limit for contestants has been removed from the Miss Universe and associated pageants.
Any women of 18 or above can participate.
The iconic annual international beauty pageant has come up with a historic decision, as it is eliminating the upper age limit for contesting in Miss Universe. The organisation now permits adult women of all ages to participate in the pageant.
The groundbreaking change was announced by the Miss Universe 2022 R’Bonney Gabriel during Tanner Fletcher’s show at New York Fashion Week on Tuesday.
The change, that allows any women of 18 or above to participate in the pageant, will be reflected officially from 2024 and is applicable to all Miss Universe and associated pageants.
So far, women up to the age of 28 were only allowed to take part in the beauty pageant. Ms Gabriel was the oldest to be crowned Miss Universe and is now 29 years old.
“Age is not a barrier to a woman”s ability to compete and achieve greatness”, Hindustan Times quoted Ms Gabriel from the New York Fashion Week.
“It”s a bold group of women in charge over here, and you know what, a lot of people tend to follow what we do – it”s nice to be a standard-bearer and I”m proud that we get to do that”, she added.
As WION quotes Ms Gabriel, “A woman’s ability to compete at Miss Universe, or anything in life, shouldn’t be defined by her age. Age should just be a number”.
When she was asked “what change she would like to see made in the competition rule” during the question and answer round in the 2023 edition of the pageant, Ms Gabriel replied that she would like to see the age of eligibility increase.
“My favourite quote is ‘If not now, then when?’ Because I believe age should not define us. t’s not tomorrow, it’s not yesterday, but it’s now — the time is now that you can go after what you want”, she said then.
She is the first Filipino-American woman to win Miss USA, and the first Miss USA representative to be crowned Miss Universe in a decade.
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“Starting then, every adult woman in the world will be eligible to compete to be Miss Universe” wrote the Miss Universe official Instagram page on their story.
Anne Jakkaphong Jakrajutatip, a Thai transgender entrepreneur who bought the Miss Universe Organisation for $20 million last year, is credited with the organisation”s rapid growth, says reports.
In the 2023 season, her leadership led to another mould-breaking decision to remove the restrictions on married, divorced and pregnant contestants.
