Gendered Activism

Abstract

Despite an established tradition of comparative research that focuses on gender differences in the amount of protest, relatively little cross-national research examines gender differences in the kinds of protest. This study examines gender differences in types of protest using data from seven advanced capitalist democracies in the 1994–2004 waves of the World Values Surveys. Multinomial logistic regression models indicate that while men and women have similar levels of protest activity, there are gender differences in the forms of protest in which they participate. Specifically, women are more likely than men to engage in nonconfrontational activities. By contrast, men are more likely to be involved with forms of activism that involve confrontational activities. The results also suggest gender ideology plays a crucial role in creating the conditions that foster gendered forms of activism. In egalitarian contexts, women are more likely than men to participate in a wide array of protest activities. Evidence of gendered activism reinforces the argument that gender organizes protest politics in ways that undermine political equality.