By exposing the exclusion of gender as a category for inquiry in political thought, however, this paper is not arguing for the mechanical insertion of women or gender in this pre-existing discourse. Rather, this paper suggests a rethinking of the theoretical, epistemological, and methodological underpinnings of political science—a feminist interventionist strategy, which seeks to transform and stretch the boundaries of the discipline. The question therefore is not why gender does matter, but why gender does not matter in the politics of Southeast Asia.