Participatory gender inequalities have long been a field of study. We distinguish between institutional and non-institutional forms of political participation, while we further analyse the multidimensionality of gender differences within both. We focus on the role of context and we argue that different interpretations of context can affect the conditionality of the relationship between gender and political participation. To further explore these inequalities throughout Europe, we ask three distinct questions. To what extent do participatory gender inequalities show crosscountry patterns of variation? Which contextual variables affect participatory inequality across gender lines and how can we describe their influence? To what extent is the rapport between participatory gender inequalities and contextual variables different according to the form of political participation? Our analysis – based on a multilevel model and ESS data – indicates that while favourable economic, political and social factors reduce participatory gender inequalities, they only do so for non-institutional participatory gender inequalities. Overall, we confirm the multi-dimensionality of participatory gender differences, as well as the importance of context as a conditioning effect.