Jane Dipika Garrett, a nursing student from Kathmandu, Nepal, made double history this weekend as this country’s first plus-size national beauty queen and the first plus-size woman to win the coveted Miss. Universe beauty pageant in November this year.
According to her social media profile, Garrett, who is also part American, is an advocate for mental health, body positivity and hormonal health for women in Nepal.
The Nepalese beauty is also unashamed about her battle with polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) – a hormone disorder that affects women’s appearance and fertility because it causes an imbalance of reproductive hormones and often leads to insulin resistance.
Although this disease affects one in ten women worldwide, due to ignorance it is still often not diagnosed or treated ineffectively.
“As a woman with curves that do not meet certain beauty standards, I am here to represent women who are built like me, who struggle with weight gain and who struggle with hormonal problems. I believe that there is not just one type of beauty. Every single woman is beautiful just the way she is,” Garrett said of her win.
Garrett’s victory is also another big milestone for the Miss. Universe competition, which is now in its 72nd year.
RNews previously reported that in 2022 this competition changed their rules “for the sake of inclusivity” for the first time to also allow mothers and married women to be eligible for the title.
The rule change caused one of the biggest upheavals in the history of the competition, which previously only allowed single women between the ages of 18 and 28, who had never been married or had children.
The miss As a result, the South African competition has also made changes to be in line with the Miss. Universe competition, since Miss. SA winners have been doing extremely well in this competition for the past five years.
Last month, Michelle Cohn also won the first Miss. Universe Guatemala participant and winner who is a mother of two. Cohn (28) is a model and entrepreneur and has a son and daughter with her husband, Andres Matheu.
Sources: The National News, Missuniversenepal.org
