Discrimination on the grounds of gender

At independence, most countries in Africa discriminated on the basis of gender in the rules on transmission of citizenship to children and spouses.  In recent years, however, nationality laws have increasingly been reformed to reduce or remove gender discrimination.

A substantial majority of African countries now give men and women equal rights to transmit nationality to their children; and roughly half provide equal rights to transmit nationality to a spouse.

These reforms are in line with the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) which prohibits discrimination in nationality law on the basis of gender: all African countries except Sudan and Somalia are parties to this treaty.

Key Resources

• Achieving Gender-Equal Nationality Laws in Africa, Global Campaign for Equal Nationality Rights
• UNHCR Background Note on Gender Equality, Nationality Laws and Statelessness, 2021

Related Themes

• Discrimination
  • Ethnic/Racial/Religious