Gender and Social Movements

How does gender influence social movements? How do social movements deal with gender?

In Gender and Social Movements, Jo Reger takes a comprehensive look at the ways in which people organize around gender issues and how gender shapes social movements. Here gender is more than an individual quality, it is a part of the very foundation of social movements, shaping how they recruit, mobilize and articulate their strategies, tactics and identities. Moving past the gender binary, Reger explores how movements can shift understandings of gender and how backlash and countermovements can often follow gendered movement successes. Adopting both an intersectional and global lens, the book introduces readers to the idea that gender as a form of societal power is integral in all efforts for social change.

With a critical overview across different types of movements and gender activism, such as the women’s liberation, #Metoo and transgender rights movements, this book offers a solid foundation for those seeking to understand how gender and social movements interact.

Introduction: Integrating Gender and Social Movements

1. People in Movements: When Movements Focus on Single-Gender Concerns

2. Gender in Movements: What Happens in Multi-Gender Movements

3. Coming to the Movement: How Gender Influences Pathways to Activism

4. Guiding Social Change: When Gender Shapes Movement Trajectories

5. Legacies of Rise and Resistance: How Gender Sparks Change and Backlash

Conclusion: Where Do We Go from Here? “[Makes] for a thoughtful learning experience in the classroom, in a book club, or as a noteworthy read for early career scholars studying social movements, collective behavior, social change, and intersectionality.”
Social Forces

“[T]his is a book that students will love for what it succeeds at doing: laying out in concise and clear language how we think about gender in feminist studies and how the fragmentation of gender in and of itself will not bring about a world without patriarchy.”
International Sociology

“With great clarity and insight, Reger traces how gender influences all aspects of social movements: who joins, who leads, how agendas get defined, how activists frame social problems, and the very impacts movements have on society. Reger’s crystal clear account reveals that gender is present everywhere in movement activism. This is a ‘must read’ account for anyone who participates in, studies, or cares about social movements.”
Holly McCammon, Vanderbilt University

“This accessibly written book is both eminently teachable and a must-read for scholars. Using a wide range of engaging examples and centering intersectionality, Reger brilliantly synthesizes the most current research and unpacks how major processes in social movements are gendered.”
Nancy Whittier, Sophia Smith Professor of Sociology, Smith College Jo Reger is Professor of Sociology and Department Chair at Oakland University.