The first international treaty on women's rights, establishing that nationality should not differ by sex, later influencing UN treaties.
Key Facts
- Year adopted
- 1933
- Adopting body
- Pan American Union
- Ratifying states
- 20 member states of the Americas
- States with reservations
- El Salvador, Honduras, United States
- Preceding conference
- Hague Codification Conference, 1930
- Follow-up treaty
- Convention on Nationality of Married Women, 1957
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
At the 1930 Hague Codification Conference, discriminatory nationality laws were identified as a serious issue. In many countries, women automatically lost their nationality upon marriage and had no control over assets or children. The Inter-American Commission of Women, led by Doris Stevens, conducted a multi-year study documenting the legal disparity between men and women regarding citizenship.
In 1933, the Seventh International Conference of American States, convened by the Pan American Union in Montevideo, Uruguay, adopted the Convention on the Nationality of Women. The treaty declared that no distinction based on sex should exist in nationality law or practice, marking the first time such a principle was codified in an international agreement.
The convention applied only to the member states of the Americas, but it established a precedent that influenced broader international efforts. The United Nations began its own study on women's nationality in 1948, culminating in the Convention on the Nationality of Married Women in 1957, which extended these protections globally.
Political Outcome
Treaty adopted declaring no distinction based on sex in nationality law; ratified by 20 American states with reservations from El Salvador, Honduras, and the United States.
Women in many American states lost nationality upon marriage with no legal recourse
Member states committed to equal nationality rights regardless of sex