The rights of children undergo close scrutiny in this chapter. Although the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Magna Carta of children’s rights, enjoys nearly universal support, it did not settle all interpretive questions. This chapter reviews definitional questions such as when the rights of the child are being, shown to ascertain, in practical ways, the difference between a child and an adult. Among the topics covered are the exploitation of child labor, “streetism” as it affects children, the participation of children in armed conflict and the landmark prosecutions of those who recruite them in international criminal tribunals. The global campaign to discourage child marriage is another matter considered. The chapter ends with a consideration of empowerment rights such as enfranchisement.

We begin by deriving a negative right to procreative autonomy from autonomous agents’ right to control their own bodies. Turning to the ethics of deciding who will come into existence, we distinguish fixed-identity decisions, which address whether or not to bring a specific individual into being, and identity-determining decisions, which determine which of several possible individuals will come into existence. Regarding fixed-identity decisions, we defend a liberal view of abortion based primarily on the thesis that death does not harm pre-sentient fetuses. An example will help to clarify the less familiar category of identity-determining decisions: a couple might attempt to get pregnant now or – concerned about an outbreak of an infectious disease that might damage a fetus – wait several months, thereby determining which of two possible individuals will later exist. We argue that in at least some of these “nonidentity” cases, it is permissible to cause to exist someone whose life is expected to go worse than that of another possible individual. Finally, we apply our theoretical conclusions to two practical issues: the use of medical technologies in sex selection and public health measures in the context of a Zika virus outbreak.

Do quotas mandating women’s political representation unsettle social norms enough to foment backlash that precludes future generations of daughters? I examine the extent to which diminishing sons’ traditionally stronger economic and political position alters preferences for male over female offspring. Overall, this analysis provides decisive evidence that backlash immediately follows quota-mandated female representation that enables enforcement of women’s substantial inheritance rights. Exposure to female gatekeepers lowers the proportion of daughters mothers bear by 5 to 20 percentage points, relative to women without access to female representatives. What about women with the greatest bargaining power? New political representation that expands opportunities for women to claim gender-equal economic rights might shift behavior amongst the youngest cohorts of mothers exposed to both changes (female-led political institutions and substantive economic rights) early in familial formation. At the margin, this group of women appear more inclined to give birth to daughters. Overall, analysis suggests a slight shift in favor of bearing and raising healthy sons for all but this youngest cohort of mothers. This chapter finds political representation enabling women to claim crucial economic rights to inherit property is not sufficient on its own to bring about meaningful or benign change.