Reverse Gender Gap in Transnational Activism: War-Driven Political Engagement Among Russian Post-2022 Emigrants

How does exile shape political activism, and how does gender influence migrants’ engagement with homeland politics? Since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, significant numbers of Russians have fled their country, seeking physical safety, moral distance from the regime at war, and new avenues to voice dissent. Although feminist anti-war movements have gained substantial media visibility, scholarly attention to gendered political remittances in the context of political emigration remains limited. Utilizing data from the OutRush panel survey of 2,700 respondents across more than 70 countries—including Eastern and Western Europe, North and South America, Central Asia, the South Caucasus, and parts of the Asia-Pacific—we analyze political participation among Russian wartime migrants: individuals who, unlike those remaining in Russia, can openly express dissent and mobilize abroad. We uncover a "reverse gender gap" in transnational political activism: Russian migrant women demonstrate substantially higher levels of political and civic engagement than men, despite facing greater economic insecurity and emotional vulnerability. To investigate the mechanisms behind this gap, we employ regression analysis and Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition. Contrary to conventional explanations, standard predictors such as political interest, institutional trust, and economic or social hardship do not account for these gender differences. Instead, emotional responses to the war—particularly feelings of collective responsibility for its consequences and a drive for reparative action—emerge as key drivers. Our study challenges prevailing assumptions that migrant women are less politically active due to structural or social constraints. We show that emotional and moral factors can critically shape gendered patterns of political engagement across borders. Short Biographies: Karolina Nugumanova – PhD Researcher at Scuola Normale Superiore, Department of Political Science and Sociology; investigator of the OutRush Project. Emil Kamalov – PhD Researcher at the European University Institute, Department of Social and Political Sciences; principal investigator of the OutRush Project. Ivetta Sergeeva – Post-Doctoral Fellow at Stanford University, Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law; principal investigator of the OutRush Project.