Miss Universe removes age limit for contestants: ‘Every adult woman will be eligible’

The pageant organisation announced the landmark decision on their official Instagram page. “The Miss Universe Organization announces the elimination of all age limits across all Miss Universe-associated pageants. This change will apply to all 2024 pageants globally,” it said, adding that every adult woman in the world will be eligible to compete to be Miss Universe.

 

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Speaking at the fashion event, Miss Universe 2022 R’Bonney Gabriel said, “Age is not a barrier to a woman’s ability to compete and achieve greatness.”

She added that Miss Universe looks for ways to be inclusive and live up to the platform they have designed. “What I love about Miss Universe is that they are always out first in line, looking for ways they can be more inclusive and better live up to the platform that they’ve designed for us. A woman’s ability to compete at Miss Universe, or anything in life, shouldn’t be defined by her age. Age should just be a number,” Gabriel said at the event.

Gabriel was 28 when she was crowned Miss Universe 2022. During the question-and-answer round held at the contest in New Orleans, when asked what changes she would make to the organisation’s rules, she said that if given a chance, she would raise the age limit.

“When I competed, the age limit was 28, and I was 28 then. So, my answer was that I think we should change this,” she told WWD.

The upcoming Miss Universe pageant, to be held in El Salvador in November, will also feature contestants who are married women or mothers. This historic rule change was announced last year, doing away with the selection process which favoured only single women who had never given birth, and who were between the ages of 18 to 28.

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