CITIZENSHIP AND GENDER:‎THE EFFECT OF MARRIAGE ON CITIZENSHIP

The dissimilarity of the effect of marriage on citizenship between the wife’s and the husband’s side suggests that the Iranian legislator considers a wife’s citizenship as a derivative of her husband’s and that it sanctions gender discrimination among spouses. This article responds three main questions in this regard: Does the dissimilarity of the effect of marriage on the citizenship of men and women amount to a negative gender discrimination? Does it have a tenable rationale? In either case, what plausible reforms in the existing law can be proposed? Adopting an analytical approach, this article will scrutinize the theoretical views which have been raised on this matter as well as the content of the relevant legal materials, will demonstrate that the legal dissimilarities are not necessarily gender-based, and will argue that they are not premised on a defensible rationale. It will finally provide the legislature with two non- reformative proposals for legislation to remove gender discrimination.