Abstract

The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR 2013: 1) estimates that ‘Statelessness is a massive problem that affects an estimated 12 million people worldwide’. In many parts of the world many people, women in particular, are still non-citizens, so that basic legal, political and/or welfare rights have not yet been attained. Exclusionary policies lie at the root of many statelessness situations. We argue here that citizenship has widely been constructed in a male image, because for women access to citizenship has historically been linked to motherhood in the context of heterosexual marriage. A new literature linking the discourses of citizenship, development and sexualities has appeared, but such debates must be situated within particular socioeconomic and geopolitical contexts: case studies are needed.