Malaysian Mothers Win Battle Over ‘sexist’ Citizenship Law

LITT Law for lawyers and teams

Several Malaysian mothers won a legal battle for the right to pass their nationality to their children born abroad.

Malaysia is one of 25 countries that do not provide mothers and fathers equal rights under the country’s citizenship laws. The law recognizes only fathers with the right to confer citizenship to their children born abroad but ceases to mention mothers.

Six Malaysian women and the family support group Family Frontiers filed a legal suit in December 2020 against the decades-old law they called discriminatory citizenship law. The government argued the court had no jurisdiction to hear the issue of citizenship.

“Malaysian mothers have faced family separation, along with obstacles to accessing residency, education, health care and social services for their children. Today’s ruling is a monumental step in the direction of gender equality,” Family Frontiers said.

Judge Aktar Tahir observed that the citizenship law must be read in harmony with another law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of gender. The judge said courts are empowered to interpret the law and that the case doesn’t seek to change policy but to apply the law in a way that ensures justice.

Therefore, the court ruled that Malaysian women have the same automatic rights as Malaysian men to pass their citizenship to their overseas-born children.