When Women Walk: Armed Groups and Women's Protest Participation during the Syrian Conflict

Abstract

This article draws upon a collection of hundreds of photos and videos of protests from Syria between 2012 and 2016 to explain the temporal and spatial variation in women's protest participation during the conflict. Where armed groups with conservative gender ideologies had the capacity to be involved in local politics, they were able to limit women's access to public spaces, including political protests. This article also responds to existing explanations for the absence of women from protests that focus on violence and social norms.