Kara McCullough, who represented the District of Columbia, was crowned Miss USA 2017 during Sunday night’s pageant at Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas.
The 25-year-old chemist, who works for the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, gave some interesting answers during her final-round interview before being crowned. When asked about what she considers feminism to be and whether she considered herself a feminist, McCullough said she doesn’t use the word and instead prefers the term “equalism.”
“I don’t want to call myself a feminist,” McCullough said. “Women, we are just as equal as men, especially in the workplace.”
But during her backstage interview, she seemed to flip-flop about women being equal to men.
“I believe we’ve come a long way and there is more work to be done,” McCullough, said. “I think domestically we are making progress, and I do believe that we will become equal one day.”
Yeah, maybe one day we’ll have men parading onstage in their bikinis and being asked similar questions. Can you imagine a man being asked, “Sir, are women treated equally to men?” as he squirms in his elegant ball gown?
McCullough also said that she believes health care should go to those people who have jobs.
“As a government employee, I’m granted health care. And I see firsthand that for one to have health care, you need to have jobs, so therefore, we need to continue to cultivate this environment [so] that we’re given the opportunity to have health care as well as jobs [for] all the American citizens worldwide,” she explained.
Well, it sounds like Miss USA may have a few fans in the White House.
DISCUSSION
I get the Healthcare thing but does every woman have to be a feminist? This sounds extremely judgmental. Feminism is supposed to stand for women making their own choices freely and feminists are the first ppl to attack a WOMAN who doesnt believe what they do. Not being or identifying as a feminist does not = women should get paid less and not be able to have birth control. She clearly said there is a disparity and “women are equal to men.” I take that as her saying there should not be a disparity.
If a woman chooses not to identify as a feminist she shouldn’t be attacked. If a woman says women are not equal to men or should not have the same rights, that is a different conversation.