Why have rights increased over time? Slavery has been abolished, the franchise has been extended to different groups, married women obtained property rights, children have the right to an education and cannot be put to work, and there is ongoing progress in all these areas (e.g., the right to access contraception, gay rights, basic income, etc.). Why? And, why are these rights correlated with development? I will review briefly some of this literature and then delve in depth in two cases: the extension of the franchise in the west and married women’s property rights.