Summaries This article explores the values and limitations of a rights‐based approach to development focusing in particular on its potential for extending notions of citizenship to include women. It discusses the function of international conventions as a mechanism through which citizens can hold their governments accountable. The article then examines the work of a women' s activist organisation in Bangladesh, Naripokkho, and explores how it has mobilised around the conventions ratified by the government to advance the rights and citizenship of women.