Women, nationality and citizenship
June 2003
United Nations - Division for the Advancement of Women
This issue of Women2000 and Beyond considers discrimination against women in nationality laws. It examines laws that differentiate between
women and men in the acquisition and retention of nationality, as well as in relation to the nationality of their children, highlighting the legal and practical
disadvantages such laws cause.
As the section on “Nationals, citizens, stateless persons and refugees” makes clear, it is the sovereign right of States to devise their own nationality
laws and immigration requirements. This section indicates that such laws assign different legal statuses to persons within a State. People may be
nationals (citizens); legal aliens (foreigners legally in the State under its immigration laws); illegal aliens; stateless persons (with no state of nationality);
asylum-seekers; and refugees. Some of the people in these categories may have more than one nationality. The full advantages of citizenship,
including unqualified rights of entry and residency in the State, as well as access to the full range of public benefits and services, are usually accorded
only to nationals/citizens.
Keywords: women, nationality, citizenship
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