 In 1917 , Macmillan spoke out against the practice of assigning a woman 's national citizenship depending on whom she married . From 1905 , this had been the vocal position of Ishbel Hamilton @-@ Gordon , Marchioness of Aberdeen and Temair , known as Lady Aberdeen , but Macmillan saw the issue in a new light during the war . Women who were married to foreigners were , upon declaration of war , faced suddenly with status as enemy nationals within the land of their birth . From the same legal basis , a number of British women were enjoying full citizenship in enemy territories . Macmillan was in favour of women retaining their existing citizenship through marriage . To that end , she wrote a piece entitled " The Nationality of Married Women " that was published twice in Jus Suffragii , once in July 1917 and again with updated statistics in June 1918 . However , no new laws were passed about it , and a woman 's citizenship remained tied to that of her husband . 
