Women’s rights and nationality: a comparative study of Jordanian nationality law and CEDAW

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ABSTRACT The study investigates women’s rights and nationality in Jordanian Law in comparison with the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). This assessment of Jordan’s Law No. 6 of 1954 on Nationality not only finds that Jordanian women do not share equal rights with men regarding nationality acquisition and maintenance, but also reveals other constitutional violations concerning discrimination against women. The most important of these is that a Jordanian woman, unlike a man, cannot transfer her nationality to her children, violating the basic and universal right to equality that is also a constitutional principle to which the Jordanian legislator is obligated. These findings indicate that certain constitutional defects must be corrected, in line with CEDAW and the Constitution of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan (1952). To align Jordan’s Nationality Law with the Constitution, and preserve women’s rights, two recommendations are made. First, Article 3 should be amended to enable women to transfer their nationality to their children. Second, Article 8 should be adapted to enable a wife to transfer her nationality to her husband, and allow her to reacquire her nationality at any time, should it have been removed following marriage to a non-Jordanian man.