Social Media and Gendered Mobilization to High-Risk Campaigns in Gender-Repressive Contexts: The Case of the 2011 Egyptian Protest Movement

Abstract

ABSTRACT Social movements have utilized social media for recruitment since the mid-2000s. Scholars agree that Facebook and Twitter mobilized people during the 2011 worldwide protest wave. However, the literature largely ignores the gendered effect of social media on mobilization. I argue that social media is especially mobilizing for women in high-risk, gender-repressive contexts. In such instances, online ties with fellow citizens offer women access to information about political issues in their countries, the opportunity to articulate political views, and a space to interact with activists. I investigate this claim using the Arab Barometer (2011), which was administered to a representative sample of Egyptians five months after the 18-day protest movement of 2011. I find that social media mobilized women but not men. My findings emphasize the gendered nature of social media and challenge the perception of Egyptian women as either westernized protestors or oppressed non-activists.