Gender in learning contentious politics. A review of the models of youth activism in the change of the political cycle in the Basque Country

Abstract

This article analyzes the reproduction of the gender order in informal political learning developed in contentious politics. When it has counter-hegemonic objectives, contentious activism tends to try to transform the dominant social model and emancipate activists. However, the qualitative study carried out among young activists of the nationalist left in the period after the armed cessation of ETA shows that the repertoires and actions of contentious politics have until recently promoted activist models close to hegemonic masculinity, and that have placed the participating girls in subordinate positions. In the current moment of tensions between forces of change and continuity, the factors that in these contentious contexts can help to constitute dissident collective agencies of girls and, more specifically, feminist agencies, are analyzed.