Mrs. International (pageant)

Mrs. International is a competition designed to showcase the accomplishments of modern married women, as well as their marital and family commitment. It is the biggest American-based marital pageant. This is the only global beauty pageant that involves husbands by having them escort their wives on stage and crown his wife titleholder. Women must promote a platform of their choice as part of the pageant, as the competition is focused on community service more than beauty. Contestants are scored on private and on-stage interview (50%), evening gown (25%), and fitness wear (25%).^[1] It is based in Roanoke, Virginia, and the pageant is held in a different state in the United States every year.

The organizer, International Pageants, also organizes the smaller American-based Miss International pageant (not to be confused with the Japanese Miss International pageant) and the Miss Teen and Miss Pre-Teen International competitions.^[2]

The current Mrs. International 2021 titleholder is Yolanda Stennett from the United States.^[3]

Winners[]

The following is the list of winners of this event since its inception in 1988.^[4]

Controversies[]

Winning Nation[]

Mrs. International markets itself as a global pageant, and contestants come from countries around the world. National competitions are held in countries on almost every continent, such as in Australia, Japan, Canada, and the Ukraine. However, while the People's Choice winner is often a delegate representing a different country, every historical winner of the main Mrs. International title has been an American citizen, and other nations have never won the Mrs. International title.

While each country or region typically has 1 representative for the entire country, there is no Mrs. United States International or Mrs. America International. Instead, state titleholders are able to enter the pageant to compete for the international title without having a national title themselves, creating a disproportionate advantage for America to win this purportedly global pageant year after year.^[6]

Racial Representation[]

International Pageants has been notorious for having all-white winners across the 4 divisions for decades (Mrs., Miss, Miss Teen, and Miss Pre-Teen International). In fact, critics have pointed out that the winners across all 4 divisions match each year, with all-blonde or all-brunette winners who were not related but had remarkably similar appearances.

After intense American discussion around racism in 2020, International Pageants selected all non-white winners, who were African-American, Asian-American, and Indian-American. The pageant continues to draw criticism for apparently cherry-picking winners based on similar appearances matching across the 4 age divisions.

See also[]

• List of beauty contests
• Mrs. World
• Mrs. Universe

References[]

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