The Miss America Scholarship Fund Case Study

The Miss America Scholarship Fund?
By Megan Oppy
Scholarships. The Holy Grail of college funds. A chance to not only escape the adult boogeyman of student debt, but possiblly even put some of that saved-up college money towards your first apartment. And as more and more young women enter higher education, there should be some scholarships that can be claimed exclusively by women, right? This is in fact, true, but the largest provider of scholarships exclusively for women may just surprise you. Is it the Society of Women Engineers? Or maybe the Jeanette Rankin Women’s Scholarship Fund? Unfortunately, it is neither of these. The largest provider of exclusively female scholarships is… the Miss America Organization. Now I hesitate to call
According to the dictionary, feminism is the advocacy of women’s rights on the grounds of political, social, and economic equality to men. This means that what a feminist wants is not a matriarchal society where men are oppressed by domineering women, but equality for women. This doctrine has existed for many years, and it first became prominent during the late eighteenth century. However, if we are to explore how feminism affects society today, we must focus on its more recent history. Specifically, the “second wave” of feminism which arose during the 1950s and 1960s. This new feminist movement arose a few years after the publication of The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan. This book struck a nerve with the American housewife, and caused many to question if all a woman was capable of doing was merely cooking, cleaning, and pleasing her husband. In 1966 Friedan and others formed an activist group named the National Organization for Women, or NOW. This group demanded equal pay for equal work and enforcement of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibited discrimination in employment due to race and/or gender. As the feminist movement progressed, more and more women began to stand up for their rights, until in 1980, when women comprised the majority of undergraduates. But enough with history, how does feminism exist in our society today? First we must take a look at how feminism is perceived. According to
The Miss America Organization does provide scholarships to women, but only to a very select group. Namely, the winners of the competitions. And to even compete in the event, there are certain requirements. A female contestant must not be married and be able to verify that she is not pregnant nor has ever been pregnant. Because, Heaven forbid a woman who is supposed to be a good example to young girls should be in a steady relationship or have a child that looks up to her. Also, despite offering scholarships, the competition is anything but scholarly. The contestants are judged mostly on looks, and the question portion of the competition is downright ridiculous. The contestants are given questions like “Government tracking of phone records has been in the news lately, is this an invasion of privacy or necessary to keep our country safe?” This question would make a seasoned politician squirm, and the contestant is expected to answer it intelligently in 20 seconds. Saying that this makes the competition intellectual would be like me placing a cherry on my head and saying that this makes me an ice cream sundae. Unfortunately, the competition was even worse at the beginning. It was broken down like a dog show, with 5 points for the construction of the head, 5 points for the