Research on the gender gap in political interest has long documented that women report lower levels of interest than men. However, recent scholarship has challenged this interpretation, arguing that such differences partly reflect variation in how individuals understand and relate to politics itself, rather than a simple deficit in women’s engagement. Building on this perspective, this article further develops the idea that gender differences in political interest are contingent on how political events are framed. In particular, it proposes that even within the domain of international armed conflicts, the gender gap may vary depending on whether these events are predominantly understood as conventional military confrontations or as humanitarian crises. Empirically, the study leverages data from the European Social Survey (ESS) and applies an Unexpected Event During Survey Design (UESD) strategy to two major international shocks: the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and the events of 7 October 2023 and the subsequent Israeli military campaign. This design allows for causal identification of short-term changes in political interest by gender. The results are expected to show no significant change in the gender gap following the invasion of Ukraine, but a narrowing of the gap in response to the Israel-Palestine escalation, suggesting that the gendered impact of international shocks depends on how they are publicly framed.