Although it is widely acknowledged that many aspects of social life are gendered, only relatively recently have feminist researchers begun to address the ‘gender blindness’ of the social movement theory. Integrating findings from multiple studies, the article considers how gender affects social movement dynamics. It is argued that gender exerts pervasive influence on every aspect of social movement activities. The patterns of mobilisation, political and cultural opportunities, framing process and intra‐movement dynamics are all gendered. It is argued that although ample evidence demonstrates that protest is gendered, we do not yet know whether there is any general pattern of influence of gender on social movements, a pattern that enables a systematic explanation of the effects of gender on social movement dynamics. In conclusion, I will examine the reasons for this and suggest avenues for research.

This article aims to contribute to the debates on how cultural context influences mobilization outcomes through a comparative analysis of two Israeli social movement organizations that supported conscientious objectors and draft resisters during the second Palestinian Intifada. This analysis has two objectives. The first is to show how cultural and institutional conditions of Israeli militarism influenced both the discourses and the tactics of resistance of the movement organizations. The second is to demonstrate that different tactics of the movement organizations had a differential impact on the Israeli public and the Israeli political system. It is argued that both the culturally and institutionally embedded gender inequality within Israeli society has determined the choice of the available strategies for the movement organizations, which has in turn influenced the relative success of their campaigns.

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