Much of women's political activity cannot be accommodated within traditional political science so new ways of analysing it are needed. In order to create a new fraework, using case study material from Chile, some of the concepts employed by socialist feminists, particularly the patriarchal pargain and strategic and practical gender interests, are explored. These shed light on why women mobilize, both for conservative and for more 'progressive' causes. However, this framework alone cannot provide answers about the form and representation of these activities. An attempt is made to use the insights of post-modernism to do this. The conclusion is that it is possible to unite the most helpful aspects of the two perspectives.