In a bid to end sexism, the Miss America beauty pageant's organizers on Tuesday announced they will scrap the bikini segment from this year's edition, a media report said.
"We are not going to judge you on your outward appearance," Gretchen Carlson, a former Fox News anchor who is now the organization's chairwoman, said on ABC's "Good Morning America", reported the New York Times.
"We want more women to know that they are welcome in this organization."
Carlson, whose sexual harassment lawsuit against Fox News Chairman Roger Ailes led to his departure, said the board has heard from potential contestants saying, “We don’t want to be out there in high heels and swimsuits.” “Guess what?” she said. “You don’t have to anymore.”
Asked if she is worried ratings for the nationally televised broadcast might suffer because of the elimination of swimsuits, Carlson said she is not. She said that the swimsuit portion is not the highest rated section of the broadcast and that viewers seem to be more interested in the talent competition. She also said the group will make changes to the evening wear portion of the competition, adding it will not judge women on their chosen attire.
“It’s what comes out of their mouths that we care about,” she said. The changes will start with this year’s broadcast on Sept. 9. Carlson said the Miss America Organization will emphasise its role as a scholarship provider.
While the Miss America Organization had long defended the segment where women posed in skimpy swimsuits as a measure of the women's physical fitness, it has now decided to remove it in wake of a harassment scandal it faces and in view of the #MeToo movement.
Carlson said the competition would focus more on the contestants' talents, intelligence and ideas.
