Box 3. The impact of statelessness resulting from gender discriminatory laws Nabila, a Syrian mother, worries about her stateless daughter who was unable to acquire her father’s nationality before her parents divorced. She despairs, “Although my daughter has a good degree from Damascus University, without citizenship or identification papers, she cannot accept the many job offers and travel opportunities she receives. She is only 25 years old, but her future is bleak.” In Thailand, the lack of access to scholarship programs and student loans reserved for Thai nationals obstructs stateless children’s access to higher education. “I get pretty good grades,” says Patcharee (15), a stateless hill-tribe girl in Thailand. “Maybe I am even at the top of the class. But every time there is a scholarship, it is given to someone who has a national ID card.” Saida in Morocco was unable to pass on her own nationality to her children because she is a woman. Without nationality, her family had no right to residence, and when the children reached maturity, they faced the problem of leaving the country every three months to attain a visa and trying to return. Thankfully, the law was amended in 2007 changing the lives of thousands of children for the better, including Saida’s. Sources: UNHCR 2014; A Special Report Ending Statelessness in 10 years, November 4. (https://www.unhcr.org/ en-us/protection/statelessness/546217229/special-report-ending-statelessness-10-years.html; UNHCR 2015; “I Am Here, I Belong: The Urgent Need to End Childhood Statelessness.” November 3. https://www.refworld.org/ docid/563368b34.html (accessed February 15, 2019).. that 51 countries out of the 189 examined do not allow married women to pass their citizenship to their nonnational spouses in the same way as men. For example, in the Central African Republic,87 the Republic of Congo,88 Guatemala,89 Jordan,90 Malaysia,91 Oman,92 and The Philippines,93 nationality laws prevent women from passing their nationality to their husbands. Laws can also impose more stringent requirements on men trying to acquire their wives’ nationality than on women trying to acquire their husband’s nationality as is the case in St. Lucia94 and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.95 In these countries, the competent minister may refuse the granting of citizenship by marriage to husbands on reasonable grounds. Such laws can prolong situations of statelessness, for example, when women marry stateless men. Nationality laws also frequently discriminate against women when it comes to the acquisition, loss, and retention of nationality by marriage and naturalization. These laws can contribute to situations of statelessness. Women tend to be more likely than men to assume their foreign spouse’s nationality upon marriage and are in some cases legally obliged to do so under the principle of dependent nationality.96 For instance, in the Islamic Republic of Iran, every foreign woman who marries an Iranian husband is considered an Iranian national.97 In Kuwait, a Kuwaiti woman who marries an alien will lose her Kuwaiti nationality if she acquires her husband’s nationality.98 Similarly, in Bahrain, if a Bahraini woman marries an alien, she shall lose her Bahraini nationality if she acquires the nationality of her husband.99 Women married to foreign nationals risk statelessness if there is a gap in legislation that allows or requires them to renounce their nationality without having acquired the nationality of the spouse or if the legislation does not let them retain their original nationality after losing their husband’s nationality.100 A safeguard against statelessness in the latter case is to allow the woman to keep the husband’s nationality or to revert to her original nationality. For instance, in Egypt, if a foreign woman acquires Egyptian nationality upon marriage to an Egyptian, she will not forfeit it with the termination of marriage, unless she has had her foreign nationality restored or gets married to a foreigner and acquires his nationality.101 10 ACHIEVING UNIVERSAL ACCESS TO ID: GENDER-BASED LEGAL BARRIERS AGAINST WOMEN AND GOOD PRACTICE REFORMS