Statelessness of women

Each country has its own nationality laws, and in many cases in the past such laws have permitted or provided for discrimination against women, or have deprived women of their nationality upon marriage to, or divorce from, a foreigner. Under the law of some countries a woman still loses her nationality on marriage with a foreigner or upon a change in the nationality of her husband occurring during the marriage. Thus the woman loses the protection of the state and of the law of her original nationality. In the event of a dissolution of the marriage or the death of the husband, the woman does not automatically recover her original nationality. In these countries, women are still not assured of equality with men in the exercise of the right to a nationality and there is no law to prevent them from becoming stateless upon marriage or at its dissolution.