Malaysian mothers win battle over ‘sexist’ citizenship law

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Several Malaysian mothers have won a legal battle for the right to pass their nationality to their children born abroad, in a landmark court decision hailed by activists as a giant step toward gender equality. Malaysia’s constitution gives fathers the automatic right to confer citizenship to their children born abroad, but it doesn’t mention mothers. Six Malaysian women and the family support group Family Frontiers filed a legal suit in December 2020 against what they called a discriminatory law. Family Frontiers said the Kuala Lumpur High Court ruled Thursday that Malaysian women have the same automatic rights as Malaysian men to pass their citizenship to their overseas-born children.