CEDAW/C/GC/32 disproportionate and negative impact on the enjoyment of the right to nationality by women. Women continue to be more likely than men to seek to change their nationality to that of their foreign spouse upon marriage to a foreigner and are therefore at greater risk of statelessness if there is a gap in nationality legislation that allows or requires them to renounce their nationality without having acquired or received assurances that they will acquire the nationality of the spouse. The prohibition of dual nationality in many nationality laws increases the likelihood of statelessness. In many instances, women are not allowed to transmit their nationality to their foreign husbands. Sex- and gender-based discrimination in nationality laws continues to have a significant and detrimental impact on the enjoyment by women and their children of their human rights. Gender inequality persists in the nationality laws and practices of a significant number of countries and can lead to women becoming stateless. Gender inequality can also render children stateless when their mothers are prevented, on an equal basis with fathers, from transmitting their nationality to their children. In this way, discrimination against women can lead to a cycle of statelessness that can be perpetuated from generation to generation. 53 55. Naturalization requirements may also indirectly discriminate against women because they may require the fulfilment of conditions or criteria that may be more difficult to meet for women than for men, such as acquiring proficiency in a host State’s language, which may be more difficult for women, including stateless women, who have suffered prior or current impediment of their right of access to formal education. Other requirements such as economic self-sufficiency or property ownership may also be more difficult for women to meet as individuals. Situations of statelessness following marriage to a foreigner and naturalization requirements, as mentioned in paragraph 54 above, can lead to women being dependent on men economically, socially, culturally and linguistically and, in turn, expose women to an increased risk of exploitation. 56. Birth registration is also closely linked to the enjoyment by women and their children of the right to a nationality. Birth registration provides proof of a person’s identity and acquisition of nationality based either on descent (jus sanguinis) or place of birth (jus soli). In practice, indirect discrimination, cultural practices and poverty often make it impossible for mothers, especially unmarried mothers, to register their children on an equal basis as fathers. Failure to register a child’s birth may impair or nullify the child’s effective enjoyment of a range of rights, including the right to nationality, to a name and identity, to equality before the law and to recognition of legal capacity. 57. Discriminatory laws or practices may lead to women and their children being unable to gain access to documentation that proves their identity and nationality. In the absence of proof of identity and nationality, a woman and her children may be faced with restrictions on freedom of movement, problems gaining access to diplomatic protection, prolonged detention pending determination of proof of identity and nationality and, ultimately, to a situation in which no State considers them to be nationals and they are rendered stateless. 58. Given the critical importance of nationality to the full participation of women in society, 54 the significant number and nature of reservations made by some States __________________ 53 54 18/21 UNHCR, “Guidelines on statelessness No. 4: ensuring every child’s right to acquire a nationality”, paras. 13-15 (see footnote 6 above). See general recommendation No. 21, para. 6. 14-64766