Mothers and married women currently can't compete for Miss America, and Grace Stanke, who was crowned the new winner on Thursday, doesn't believe those rules should change.
Stanke represented Wisconsin during the pageant, which took place at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut.
While speaking with Insider on Friday, Stanke said she believes the Miss America winner shouldn't be married or have children because it's a demanding role.
"It is Miss America and we are aged 18 to 26, and it's described in the contract right now that you have to be unmarried," Stanke told Insider. "We spend a lot of time on the road."
She added: "The position of Miss America is an incredibly demanding one, requiring an average of 20,000 miles of travel monthly and visiting cities across the country for no more than 48 hours at a time."
"It's a very rigorous position, and I'm excited to be in the role and excited to step into it," Stanke said.
Stanke also credited Miss America for helping pay for her education. She has received almost $70,000 in scholarship funds from the organization and said attending graduate school is now an option.
"The Miss America organization awards $5 million a year to women all across the country and that's changing lives," Stanke said. "Receiving an education is allowing me to continue pursuing my career as a nuclear engineering student and a future nuclear energy advocate."
It was announced earlier this year that married women and mothers would be allowed to compete in Miss USA and Miss Universe for the first time starting in 2023. It was a major change, one that Miss Universe 2020 Andrea Meza told Insider was a long time coming.
Brian Lowe, a spokesperson for the Miss America organization, told Insider there are no plans to change the rule "at this time."
Stanke isn't the first Miss America winner to stand by the organization's rule. Camille Schrier, who won the title of Miss America 2020, also told Insider at the time that she doesn't believe contestants in the competition should be married or have children.
"I think that Miss America is a very unique job and, quite honestly, I'm worried about what I'm going to do with my cats at home right now when I take this job and I'm on the road constantly," Schrier said.
Both Schrier and Miss Georgia 2020 Victoria Hill said during the Miss America broadcast that they believe the pageant winner should be single and have no children. Karamo Brown and Kelly Rowland, who were judges for that year's competition, later spoke out against their answers.
"I felt it was important that there be a counter-voice in case there is a mother out there who is watching this, because we never know the circumstances of how anyone becomes a parent," Brown said.
"If there's one young parent who is in college and trying to get her degree, or just working and wants to be in the Miss America pageant, I felt like it was important for her to know that she can do it and that there are no limitations," he continued.
"I was so happy that Karamo said that," Rowland said. "We're approaching our next decade in 2020. We can do whatever, whenever and however we want, we make the rules."
