Why do gender quotas often produce symbolic rather than substantive representation? This article argues the answer is not individual ambition but rather ‘gated pathways’ shaped by social capital’s gendered liquidity. A mixed-methods study of Palestine’s 2021 local elections reveals a ‘hollowed middle’: women meet 20% quotas in top-tier ‘A’ municipalities and village councils but are filtered out of competitive mid-tier municipalities. Channeled into ‘kinship-mediated candidacy,’ women rely on bonding capital for symbolic entry, often via acclamation. Conversely, men access ‘institutionally mediated candidacy’ through liquid bridging and linking capital convertible into substantive power. The study introduces ‘gendered liquidity’—how patriarchal structures and military occupation determine social capital’s convertibility into power. For women, bonding capital is a key to entry but a lock on advancement.
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