The winner of the Miss Ukraine 2018 beauty pageant, 24-year-old Veronika Didusenko, filed a lawsuit against the organizers of the Miss World pageant due to disqualification. The presence of a son became the reason that the applicant from Ukraine was removed from the competition, despite her victory in the national selection. The beauty Veronica accuses the international beauty contest of discrimination and believes that its rules do not correspond to the spirit of the 21st century.
The rules of the Miss World contest prohibit those who have a child from participating in the fight for the crown of the most beautiful girl on the planet. Veronica Didusenko believes that these requirements not only do not correspond to the free spirit of our time, but, in general, are absurd from any point of view.
Veronica received the crown of the main beauty of Ukraine, but four days later she received an official notification of the loss of her title, indicating the reason for this decision.
It was humiliating and insulting. I felt very bad because this is not just my story, it is a problem for thousands of women around the world who may want to take part, but are not able to because they are mothers.
This is how the Ukrainian model described her emotions after receiving a letter from the organizers. In an interview with BBC reporters, Veronica said that she was not going to leave it that way and would do everything to achieve the abolition of the discriminatory rule.
I want to make the competition more modern, so that it reflects the realities of the life of modern women, who can perfectly balance their career and personal life.
Didusenko also said that she took part in the Miss Ukraine 2018 contest due to the fact that she needed to develop her own charity project, but did not particularly expect to win. Receiving the title of the main beauty of Ukraine was a surprise for the girl and she decided to move in this direction and further.
As for the rules prohibiting women with children from participating in the competition, Veronica said that she saw such a condition in the form. Didusenko was not going to hide her son from anyone and reminded the organizers of the presence of a child. But they did not see anything wrong with this and insisted on continuing the registration. Because of this, the subsequent scandal with the deprivation of the title was perceived by the girl especially sharply.
Miss World Chairman and CEO Julia Morley was asked about participating in the beauty pageant with children back in 2018 live on Good Morning Britain. The woman answered it at length and very evasively, without clearly indicating her position on this issue.
When you are trying to get the world organization to agree on one thing, you have to reckon with everyone's opinion, and people vote for what is acceptable to them. Whatever I think or whatever Europe thinks is one thing, but what the rest of the world thinks, which has to take different traditions and religions into account, is different. We must take into account the beliefs of others, so we try to maintain balance.
Angie Beasley, director of the Miss England pageant, also answered this question in 2014. She stated that the rule is absolutely fair, since it takes into account the fact that it will be difficult for a girl to simultaneously fulfill the duties that the title imposes on her and devote time to her child.
It is equally unfair to a child and his family to take away his mother for a year so that she travels around the globe helping charity programs for children.
Veronica absolutely disagrees with this statement. She claims that her son is a perfectly developed boy for his age, and this is due precisely to the fact that he travels with his mother around the world. Didusenko told reporters that her baby has already seen many countries and, from her point of view, is smarter than many children.
The argument of the Miss World competition directorate that they are worried about the well-being of the children is complete nonsense to me.
Veronica's lawsuit was accompanied by the well-known human rights activist Ravi Nike, who immediately saw in the rules of the competition a violation of the British equality law, adopted in 2010. Together with Veronica, the lawyer believes that competitions of this type should be inclusive and everyone should be allowed to participate in them.
Such an approach, according to Veronica Didusenko, will allow destroying gender stereotypes, empowering women and creating a favorable atmosphere for professional activity. As a positive example, the girl cites shows held by famous fashion houses, in which today girls of different physiques and ages, and even pregnant models, participate. Veronica is sure that beauty contests need to take an example from them.
It must be said that the idea of ideal beauty has changed several times over the past century, so why not change the rules of the competition itself to more modern ones?
