The trajectory of gender studies is discussed as an example of emerging publicly engaged research branch influenced by a changing political and ideological context. The period of the 1990s was favorable for establishing gender studies thanks to the efforts of academic feminists and international community. Academic feminists expressed scholarly commitment, entrepreneurial skills, and public involvement. This academic innovation became a challenge to a conservative patriarchal revival. Gender studies made Russian sociology more critical and reflective. In the early 2000s, the conservative turn in Russian state ideology and deficit of international support provoked fundamentalist attack on gender studies. As a result, academic feminist research is developing in the drastically unfavorable ideological climate.