Why does gender discrimination contribute to statelessness among children? Children who cannot acquire their mother’s nationality – or in several countries, their father’s nationality – because of gender discrimination in the law may also be unable to acquire the other parent’s nationality for a number of reasons, such as: • An inability to locate the parent or establish a legal link with the parent; • The parent’s unwillingness to assist in the acquisition of nationality; • The parent’s stateless status; • The parent’s lack of civil or identity documentation (e.g., national ID, marriage certificate); The parent’s country of citizenship prevents them from passing nationality in certain circumstances, such as when the parent and the child were born outside the country. 8 G E N D E R D I S C R I M I N AT I O N A N D C H I L D H O O D S TAT E L E S S N E S S