Social protection may be high on the policy agenda in international development circles, but the way it plays out in practice at national and local level is deeply political, especially so when viewed through a gender lens. While there is a robust body of evidence on the gendered patterning of poverty and vulnerability, this is seldom reflected in a systematic way in social protection strategies, policies or programmes. This article therefore explores the political economy of social protection and its effects on gender relations to increase understanding about why social protection debates and approaches have been largely gender‐blind.