a) Barriers to obtaining national ID cards Gender-based legal differences in accessing ID cards most commonly arise when women are required to obtain permission from a male guardian or to provide information or documentation not required of men. Requiring the presence of a male guardian is now uncommon for IDs. A stark exception to this is Saudi Arabia where a woman applying for an ID must be accompanied by a male guardian, typically the husband or father, and needs a male guardian’s signature, plus her passport or two women witnesses to prove her identity. These requirements are not mandated for men.3 Although requiring the presence of the male guardian is uncommon outside of Saudi Arabia, other countries still place explicit legal burdens on married women when applying for an ID. For example, in the Arab Republic of Egypt, while the ID card of a married woman must show the name of her husband, a man’s ID card only indicates his marital status.4 In Algeria,5 married women must include the name of their spouse on the national ID application form, while men are not required to do so. Legal and social norms surrounding name change on marriage affect access to identification, and regulations may limit the choice that married women have regarding their legal identity upon marriage, divorce, or widowhood. When a spouse changes the last name upon marriage, evidence of a marriage contract is needed to obtain new ID documents with the married name. Similarly, on divorce or separation, those persons wanting to revert to their name at birth must produce documentary evidence. Such regulations affect women disproportionately, as large numbers of women change their names to that of their husband, while men almost never assume their wives’ names upon marriage (Goldin and Shim 2004; Thwaites 2013). Regulations can reenforce this norm by making it difficult for men to change their name on marriage. For instance, in the United States, in all but eight states, a man who wishes to alter his name on marriage must go through a lengthy and expensive legal process (Anthony 2010). Where women typically change their name on marriage, certificates of marriage and proof of divorce are commonly required for passport applications. Marriage certificates can also be required, although more rarely, for a national ID card, as evidenced in Benin, Cameroon, and Pakistan.6 Alternatively, there are few countries which avoid this burden as the default regime is for women to keep their own names upon marriage (Koffler 2015)—for example, Belgium,7 France,8 Greece,9 Italy,10 and the Canadian province of Quebec.11 Legal reforms have eliminated gender-based legal differences to accessing ID in many places. However, it can take time for new regulations to be implemented and women may remain at a disadvantage compared to men despite legal reform. For example, in Afghanistan, the tazkera card is the primary identification document needed to access government services as well as to obtain employment in large parts of the private sector. A 2010 legal amendment eliminated the requirement for women to bring male witnesses to renew their tazkera card.12 However, the application process varies depending on where the application is submitted, and in some regions, women are still asked to bring male witnesses (Samuel Hall and Norwegian Refugee Council 2016). Even when no gender-based legal or regulatory differences exist, gender inequality can make it more difficult for women to comply with regulations governing access to ID cards compared to men. In Indonesia, surveys found that the cost of travel was a particularly binding constraint for poor rural women (Sumner 2015). In Pakistan, the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) successfully designed and implemented a program to register women in areas where a long-standing culture of male chauvinism had prevented their registration in the past (Malik 2014). Women in already disadvantaged groups can be disproportionately affected, as in the case of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Afghanistan. Applications for tazkera cards have to be submitted in the applicant’s place of origin or with central authorities in Kabul. When IDPs wish to apply for a tazkera from their current place of residence, they must bring an official letter (Ariza) from the Population Registration Office in Kabul, explaining why they cannot obtain their tazkera in their original home. Due to social norms that limit women’s mobility in Afghanistan and their interaction with officials in public spaces, travel to II. Gender-based legal barriers against women to identification 5