Publication: Achieving Universal Access to ID: Gender-based Legal Barriers Against Women and Good Practice Reforms
Date
2019-01
ISSN
Published
2019-01
Author(s)
Abstract
Proof of identity is vital in modern
society. Individuals need identity documents to participate
in many aspects of civil, political, and economic life.
These include obtaining a job in the formal sector, opening
a bank account, borrowing from a financial institution, and
owning a property or a business in addition to traveling,
voting, and gaining access to health and social welfare
services. For women and girls, legal identity is a stepping
stone to empowerment, agency, and freedom of movement.
Hence, it is a vital enabler of Sustainable Development Goal
(SDG). Achieve gender equality and empower all women and
girls. However, many women and girls do not have access to
legal identity. Globally, it is estimated that 1 billion
people are unable to prove their identity, and millions more
have forms of identification that cannot be reliably
verified or authenticated (World Bank 2015). This paper
explores how gender-based legal differences and nationality
laws limit women’s ability to obtain identification for
themselves, their children, and, in the case of nationality
laws, their spouses too. It brings together data and
analysis produced by agencies working on legal barriers that
pertain to their mandates, for example, the United Nations
Children’s Fund (UNICEF) on birth registration, the United
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on
statelessness, and the evidence produced by the World Bank
Group’s Women, Business and the Law and other legal sources.
Its aim is to provide a comprehensive overview of the extent
of gender-based legal barriers against women to ID and what
is known about their impact on women, children, and excluded groups.
Citation
“Hanmer, Lucia; Elefante, Marina. 2019. Achieving Universal Access to ID: Gender-based Legal Barriers Against Women and Good Practice Reforms. © World Bank, Washington, DC. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/32474 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”