Hey everyone!
In recent OTL history, it often seems like social progress is the inevitable result of prosperity and peace. Women vote, racial minorities are treated like everyone else, people can increasingly marry whoever they want, etcetera.
To put it simply, do you think this is the result of the relative material affluence, security and technological/scientific progress we enjoy, or is it the result of something less universal? Should things like democracy, gay rights and racial/gender equality inevitably show up in the overwhelming majority of all TLs where societies reach our current level of welfare and advancement, or should some other feature of OTL be given the credit?