Danielle Hazel, a 25-year-old mother from Brooklyn, is taking a stand against the exclusion of mothers from the Miss America and Miss World pageants. Teaming up with renowned women’s rights attorney Gloria Allred, Hazel filed a discrimination complaint on Monday with New York City’s Commission on Human Rights, challenging what she believes are unjust rules that prevent mothers from competing.
Hazel, a mother to a 6-year-old son named Zion, has long dreamed of participating in a major pageant. That dream was shattered when she learned that her parental status made her ineligible. The Miss America pageant excludes participants with “legal dependents,” while Miss World bars women who are “unmarried, childless, and not pregnant.” This has led Hazel to speak out for herself and other mothers who face similar barriers.
“Being pregnant or being a parent is not a crime,” Allred declared at a press conference, standing beside Hazel. Allred emphasized that these restrictive rules are outdated and discriminatory, denying women, particularly mothers, a chance to participate in what she called an important business and cultural opportunity.
Hazel’s son Zion echoed his mother’s frustration, calling the pageant rules “stupid.” Hazel shared that she wants to break down these barriers not just for herself, but for other women too, stating, “I do not want myself and other women to be held back by these discriminatory entry rules. I also want to show everyone that mothers can be philanthropists, advocates, and beauty queens.”
Miss America’s attorney, Stuart Moskovitz, responded to the allegations, asserting that the pageant does not ban mothers but restricts those with legal custodianship of children. He argued that the demands of the Miss America title, which involves year-round responsibilities, make it difficult for mothers to balance childcare and pageant duties. “Any woman that puts competing in this contest above the welfare of her child, well, she’s not a Miss America anyway,” Moskovitz stated.
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Despite Moskovitz’s defense, Hazel and her legal team believe that these rules perpetuate harmful stereotypes about motherhood and exclude women who are fully capable of balancing family life with public responsibilities. Allred noted that other high-pressure jobs, including roles in the military, provide accommodations for single mothers, a consideration the pageants have not yet made.
Hazel announced her complaint at the Women’s Rights Pioneers Monument in Central Park, joined by Veronika Didusenko, a former Miss Ukraine who was stripped of her title in 2018 after it was revealed she had a child. Didusenko, now an advocate for mothers in beauty pageants, recounted her experience, saying, “One of the judges pointed at me on live TV and said, ‘She had a child at 19 and divorced. I think it’s wrong to make such a person a role model.’”
This lawsuit marks the second time Allred has challenged pageant rules excluding mothers. In a previous case, Allred secured a victory for Andrea Quiroga, a California mother who successfully overturned a 70-year-old rule barring mothers from the Miss California pageant.
Hazel and Allred are now pushing for a similar victory on a larger scale. Their lawsuit aims to eliminate the discriminatory rules from both the Miss America and Miss World pageants, advocating for a more inclusive future where motherhood is not a barrier to participation in these high-profile events.
