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.