Legal > Nationality of women : observations by the committee of representatives of women's international organisations

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STATEMENT TO THE ASSEMBLY OF THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS ON THE
NATIONALITY OF WOMEN AND THE HAGUE NATIONALITY CONVENTION
Submitted by the Undersigned Organisations, Members of the Women's Consultative Committee
on Nationality.
The representatives of the undersigned four organisations, members of the Women’s
Consultative Committee on Nationality created by the Council of the League of Nations, unite
in submitting the following statement in response to the opportunity for further observations
from this Committee graciously afforded by the last Assembly :
We wish, first, to reaffirm the principles set forth in our report to the Assembly last year,
wherein we expressed our opposition to the Hague Nationality Convention because it
differentiates between men and women, and wherein we urged the Assembly to submit to the
Governments a new Convention founded upon the principle of equality in nationality. We wish
also in this connection to emphasise again the especial significance of the Hague Nationality
Convention as the beginning of the League of Nations programme for the codification of
international law and the particular importance therefore of keeping the Convention free from
inequalities based on sex.
We make these declarations with even greater emphasis this year because we are face to
face to-day with an emergency — namely, the imminent danger of the ratification of the Hague
Convention. During the past year, one additional Government has adhered to this Convention
and several others, in replying to the League of Nations enquiry, have stated their intention
to ratify. Only seven more ratifications or adhesions are needed to bring the Convention into
operation. The long-heralded code of international law would then be established with
discriminations against women in its opening articles, and a new era would be opened with
deplorable reaction.
Not only is there an emergency because of the danger of the ratification of the Hague
Convention, but there is also an emergency in that women are suffering to-day, as never
before in recent times, from the disastrous consequences of unequal nationality laws. The
recommendation by the Hague Codification Conference that the States should study the
question whether it would not be possible to introduce into their law the principle of the equality
of the sexes in matters of nationality ” has not been carried into effect. The result is
that now, in this time of economic distress, large numbers of women who have been deprived
by marriage of their own nationality are unable to get employment because they are classed as
aliens even though living in the land of their birth. Some cannot carry on their professions
because their licences have been taken away on the ground that they are aliens. Others
suddenly find that various new restrictions applying to foreigners prevent them from going
on with the trade or occupation in which they have been engaged for years. And it is not
only in the matter of employment that women are finding it an exceedingly great handicap
in these times to have their nationality changed without their consent. The woman who
has been in Government service finds she has lost her pension ; the woman who is sick finds
the State hospitals of her native country closed to her ; the woman who is destitute finds she
has no claim upon her own country for help.
It is gratifying that the Assembly realises the seriousness of this situation and has put the
subject of the nationality of women and the Hague Nationality Convention upon the agenda
of the coming Assembly. Since the Assembly plans to consider this problem, we wish to present
certain recommendations. We are in entire agreement with all that is said by our colleagues
on this Committee in their accompanying statement to the Assembly, but we believe that, in
this emergency, we should make recommendations for action as well as for further study.
We therefore lay before the Assembly the following recommendations and, in doing so, we
believe that we are expressing the desires and hopes of vast numbers of women the world over.
Recommendations.
In order to put the codification work already undertaken by the League upon a basis
of equality between men and women, and in order to prevent inequalities in any future
codification by the League, we urgently request the Assembly to take whatever measures are
necessary and within its power :
(1) To bring about the reconsideration of the Hague Nationality Convention;
(2) To delete from the Hague Nationality Convention the four articles that dis¬
criminate against women (Articles 8, 9, 10, 11) ;
(3) To submit to the Governments a new Convention founded on the principle of
equality between men and women with regard to nationality, along the lines of the draft
Convention which was placed by the delegation from Chile before the Hague Codification
Conference, reading :
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