Women have organized throughout the course of modern history and in all parts of the world. Women's movements are broadly defined as “all organizing of women explicitly as women to make any sort of social change” (Ferree & Mueller 2007: 577). Mobilizations of women arise out of gendered structures of oppression and opportunity, and women's movements have been among the most enduring and consequential movements in modern history. Participants in women's movements frequently use gender to form a collective identity on the basis of their social position as women. While many women's movements embrace a feminist identity and seek to advance the social position of women, it is not always the case. Women also mobilize around claims that are unrelated to or in opposition to feminism.      Keywords:    gender and culture,  sociology of sex, gender, and sexuality,  women's history,  women's studies,  feminism,  identity politics,  lesbianism,  social change,  social justice,  women