12. No Room For A “Mrs.” In “Miss America”
In 1924, one of the women representing Boston was actually married, so she was removed from the competition. She sued the contest, saying that this was not fair. So they had to include a rule that married women could not become Miss America. There was also an issue of underage girls being exposed to so much attention at the age of 16, so they decided to change the rules. Contestants could only be between the ages of 18 and 28. They could not be married, and they can never have children.
Even today, this rule is still very active in the competition. During an internal investigation, journalist and actress Michelle Khare decided to join a beauty pageant and report what the experience was really like. She asked several pageant organizers why that rule still exists, even in 2018, and they say that it is because the winner has to travel so much, and they do not believe that it would be a good fit for mothers.