CEDAW/C/GC/34 statelessness is often the consequences of discriminatory legislation whereby women cannot pass on their nationality to their children and foreign spouse or may risk losing their nationality through marriage with a foreigner or as a consequence of divorce. In addition, identity documents may be more difficult to acquire in rural areas, owing in particular to the lack of birth registration or of marriage, divorce or death certificates. 29. In line with general recommendation No. 32 (2014) on the gender-related dimensions of refugee status, asylum, nationality and statelessness of women, States parties should ensure that rural women may acquire, change, retain or renounce their nationality, or transfer it to their children and foreign spouse under the same conditions as men, and that they are aware of their rights in this regard. States parties should also provide rural women with access to personal identification documents (such as identity cards, passports and social security numbers) and ensure that civil registration procedures, including for birth, marriage, divorce and death, are accessible in rural areas. 30. Article 15 provides for equality of women and men before the law and identical legal capacity in civil matters, so that, for example, rural women have the same legal capacity as men to conclude contracts and administer property independent of their husband or any male guardian. 31. States parties should ensure that rural women are equal before the law and have the same legal capacity as men in civil matters, including to conclude contracts and administer property independent of their husband or any male guardian. 32. Article 16 provides for equality for women in marriage and family relations, which is something that many rural women do not enjoy owing to discriminatory social norms, practices and laws, plural justice systems where they exist, or the lack of enforcement of relevant laws. Girls from rural communities are at special risk of child and/or forced marriage and early pregnancy. Rural women are al so disproportionately affected by polygamy, which severely undermines equality in marriage and family relations. 33. States parties should harmonize personal status and family laws with article 16, in line with general recommendations No. 21 (1994) on equ ality in marriage and family relations and No. 29 (2013) on the economic consequences of marriage, family relations and their dissolution, guarantee that rural women have equal rights in marriage, including to marital property upon divorce or death of their spouse and to maintenance or alimony, and raise awareness of women’s rights within marriage in rural areas. 34. States parties should take steps to prevent and prohibit child and/or forced marriage among rural women and girls, including through the refor m and enforcement of laws prohibiting such practices in rural areas, media campaigns, particularly aimed at raising the awareness of men, the provision of school-based prevention programmes, including comprehensive age-appropriate sexual and reproductive health education, as well as the provision of social and health services for rural married girls and girls at risk of child and/or forced marriage. In addition, States parties should discourage and prohibit the practice of polygamy, which may be more common in rural areas. 16-03601 9/25