Reader Christina notified me of a "nationality campaign" blog that was launched here in Washington DC last week. The blog, found here, features six organizations in the Middle East and North Africa that are working towards changing legislation so that women are granted equal citizenship rights. According to Christina, the aim of the blog is to create a network of concerned citizens that want to work together for change and to produce a constant resource for women and human rights activists dedicated to this issue.
I think this is a wonderful idea. Raising awareness about the rights of women to grant citizenship to their children is highly needed. Stripping me of the right to pass my kids Jordanian nationality means that every single time my future children (who have a non-Jordanian father) decide to visit Jordan they will need a tourist visa! If they ever decide to live in Jordan then they will need to get a residency permit, which would not be granted to them automatically. It is a long and hectic process! However, children of Jordanian men married to foreign women are granted nationality automatically. Sexism at its best!
So, I did it:)
Great blog, especially with this women’s citizenship question. I guess – I will post a link to you at my blog.
As for murders of Arab women – I think arabian men kill them also.
Blog Promotion for the Campaign
Natasha (Twal) Tynes, a “Jordanian journalist freshly transplanted to the streets of the USA†has mentioned the Citizenship Campaign in her blog Mental Mayhem. In it, she describes the one issue that finds mention in many of the testimonies feature…