In recent years, two patterns have been developed in the imperfect and partial dialogue between political science and feminist epistemologies. Firstly, some research focus on an institutional approach, by considering women’s political participation based on their position in institutions and the activities they are engaged in; secondly, some scholars are developing a more comprehensive analysis of women’s activism that goes beyond institutions and explores the margins. This perspective is the most heuristic approach when trying to grasp the perimeter of gender-political interactions in African societies since the advent of the institutions that emerged from colonial modernity. This paper analyses the African field from this perspective, using the Cameroonian case as a starting point. It aims to describe the framework of women’s political participation by shifting the focus from institutions to mobilizations. This approach, which highlights the various forms of women’s political action, shows how they go beyond the framework of subordination, and leads to a critical reassessment of categories such as citizenship and political participation.