The Miss World pageant is now being accused of discrimination by one beauty queen who also happens to be a mom.
Veronika Didusenko is taking legal action after being stripped of her title for not only being a mother but also for being divorced.
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Veronika Didusenko was crowned Miss World in 2018. She was stripped of her title four days later.
The former Miss Ukraine 2018 took to Instagram to declare that she has “launched a legal challenge” against the competition.
“The reason I was not allowed to compete in Miss World after winning the title #MissUkraine is because I had been married and have a child,” she wrote. “Denying me on the chance of competing on those bases breaches those protections against discrimination.”
The Miss World competition bans contestants who have been married or had children. Organizers claim that the divorced mother did not disclose these details on her application.
“I don’t want the crown back. I want to get the rules changed for wider society. These rules are a systemic, widespread and international policy that results in discrimination on large scale across many countries,” she said.
The Miss World organization has issued a statement in response to these claims, saying that the 24-year-old mother was disqualified for giving “false information” on her application.
Miss World issued a statement in response to Didusenko’s announcement, and claimed that her allegations arose from “incorrect statements” she made on her Miss Ukraine application.
“The rules under which Miss World operates are constantly under review,” the statement read. “The rules are set with the principal aim of finding a Miss World who is free and able to commit, often at short notice, to travel globally in support of the sick and disadvantaged which may be for long periods of time, often to areas devastated by natural disasters.”
Katie Nave is a freelance writer, producer, and mama living in Brooklyn, New York. Driven by her passion for storytelling, she is always seeking opportunities to elevate people who are working to better the world around them.
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