EFSAS Study Paper: An examination of Women joining the ‘Islamic State’
January 22, 2020
Despite holding the reputation of being amongst the world’s worst perpetrators of gender-based violence, displaying incredible inhumanity towards women, many flocked to its ranks in Syria and Iraq. Nonetheless, due to traditional perceptions that women do not participate in violent extremism nor are perpetrators of terrorist actions, women have generally been overlooked in this context by law enforcement as well as academic research. In the same vein, female participation in IS has been disturbingly reductionist in terms of their roles, whereby women have been either labeled as passive victims or purely subsidiary supporters of male guardians with insignificant influence. This approach not only overlooks the multiplicity of roles played by women to enlarge IS’ ideological and operational agenda, but also completely disregards the meticulous radicalization and recruitment strategies behind the phenomenon.
