Kudos to the organizers of the Miss America pageant for recognizing the double standard baked into the more than century old pageant.

The pageant started out as strictly a beauty pageant with a gimmick — find a way to keep more tourists in Atlantic City, New Jersey, after the Labor Day weekend.

Through the years, it had become a bit of a cheesecake show with young women flaunting their bodies as they pitted themselves against one another.

This week the pageant announced a fundamental change.

No longer would the pageant include the swimsuit competition in which contestant traditionally sauntered across the stage in a bathing suit and high-heel shoes.

It focused entirely on the ideal female body shape.

Last year a scandal developed after emails between pageant officials surfaced in which those officials openly ridiculed contestants based on their looks.

While the Miss America pageant’s history is one of judging a young woman’s merit almost exclusively based on appearances, the world has changed greatly since then.

In today’s world, women and men, young and old, black and white deserve equal, fair treatment.

That is, after all, the American way.

The changes in the pageant will send a very public, very supportive statement to that end.

We applaud the move and look forward to seeing the new, modernized and deeply American pageant ahead.