Model loses fight to change ‘outdated’ Miss World rules
A MODEL who was stripped of her Miss World title because she was a mother has lost her bid to sue the beauty pageant. Veronika Didusenko, 24, was crowned Miss Ukraine in 2018 but she had her title taken away four days later after it was revealed she was divorced and had a four-year-old son. She was also banned from the Miss World finals. The contest, which was created in 1951, has always prohibited mothers or married women from entering. The model launched legal action in London against Miss World, claiming organisers were in breach of the Equalities Act 2010. She took her case to the UK’s Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) and demanded the pageant changes its ‘outdated’ entry criteria. But the EHRC did not see a reason to change the rules as the issue affects only a ‘very small number of women’. Miss Didusenko was disappointed. She said: ‘I want these rules to change so that all women who want to enter can do so.
‘In 2019 more than 900million people watched the Miss World final. This disproves that the pageant industry only involves a small number of women.’
She added that the entry criteria represents ‘sorely outdated views of a woman’s role’.
Miss World chief executive Julia Morley defended the rules, saying they protect children’s welfare as winners embark on busy working schedules.
But Miss Didusenko – who often travels to jobs with her son Alex, now five – said: ‘If a woman was a successful lawyer or an Olympic athlete it would be no different. It is possible to fulfil your role as a parent and a woman with a successful career.’
In recent years, other beauty pageants including Miss Great Britain have changed their rules to reflect the modern era.