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Nahed AlShehhi

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WHY WOMEN JOIN TERRORIST GROUPS

MIST 998

Done For: Dr. Imene Ajala

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Why Women Join Terrorists Groups

Definitions and Concepts of Terrorism

Terrorism can be defined in a number of ways depending on various points of view.

According to the United States Department of Defense, it is the calculated use of unlawful

violence to cause fear with the purpose to coerce or intimidate governments or societies in

pursuit of general political, religious, or ideological agendas (O'Kane 2007). In this definition,

violence, intimidation, and fear are key elements that produce terror among victims. According

to the FBI, terrorism is the unlawful use of force, violence, or property against people to

intimidate or coerce a government or civilian population of any segment thereof to further

political or social objectives (Du Mont 2002). The United Nations (UN) defines terrorism as

premeditated politically-motivated violence that is spread against non-combatant targets by sub-

national groups or underground agents intended to affect an audience. The desire to revenge for

atrocities that are committed against their loved ones appears to be a significant motivation for

women joining terror groups in modern society.

Terrorism has three perspectives-a victim, a terrorist, and the general public. While

terrorists do not see themselves as evil, victims perceive them as criminal combatants who are

ready to attain their goals by whatever means possible. On the other hand, the views of the

general public are unstable and are different from one community to another. According to Pillar

(2001), four elements are common in all the government definitions. He argues that these

elements are pre-mediation, political motivation, targets being noncombatants, and perpetrators

being sub-national or clandestine agents.

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Motivations of Women to Support Terrorism

Comprehending a woman carrying out a terror attack is difficult. According to Alexander

and Finger (1997), terrorism is a response to frustrations of various personal needs as well as

economic and political objectives. Many women join terrorist groups due to ideologies, grief or

revenge for loss, financial hardships, personal or family shame, and protection of self or their

families.

First, wives, mothers, and daughters are much more affected emotionally, physically, and

financially after losing dominant male figures in their lives. In most cases, such losses are

perceived as an injustice that motivates them to find collaborations in terrorist groups with an

intention to revenge.

Second, women's commitment to an ideological cause is similar to those of their male

counterparts (Blee 2005). In most cases, women terrorists claim to fight for freedom of the

oppressed and marginalized communities. It is the desire to make significant improvements to

the current environments that drives them to join terrorism.

Third, women terrorists have a desire to improve their social statuses. When they gain

equality with their male counterparts, they try to find chances where they can prove the equality

(Fighting for God: Motivations and aims of religious terrorists 2003). Advancements of women,

such as the ability to attend school, maintain a job, and receive medical attention, are just a few

of the motivations.

Fourth, financial hardships as a result of a death of the breadwinner may make women

join terrorist groups with the aim of making up for this loss.

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Fifth, women may join extremist groups due to personal or family shame caused by

disrespect of their acquaintances. Forced marriages or rapes may motivate females to become

suicide bombers to clean themselves as understood by a given culture (Pedahzur 2006).

Lastly, women may participate in terrorist groups to protect themselves or their families.

History of Women Participation in Terrorism

Throughout history, women have participated in political violent actions of the

insurgency, rebellion, and terrorism. One good example is Boudica and Joan of Arc, who

collaborated to revolt against the Roman occupation (Hammond 2005). In the Russian revolution

and anticolonial resistance in India, Algeria, and Israeli, women were involved. By the 1960s and

1970s, women had been introduced to terrorism in a modern sense as they joined leftist and

nationalist organizations across the world. In the United States and Europe, right-wing groups,

such as Ku Klux Klan (KKK), actively recruited women. In the 1990s and from 2000, the

involvement of women in Jihad and Islamist terrorist organizations increased rapidly.

Before the 1970s, academic literature on terrorism was almost non-existent. Since the rise

of violent leftist groups, a lot of research has then been done. However, certain areas are largely

not explored (de Leede 2014). Studies on the research of women’s participation in terrorism are

lacking despite the estimations that 30% of the world's terrorists are women.

Methods and Approaches in Counter Terrorism

In the world, countering terrorism has amounted to substantial governments’ efforts.

Between 2001 and 2011, the US alone has allocated more than $1 trillion. Various countries

have increased awareness on counterterrorism and have embarked on assessing their

effectiveness (Beyer 2010). Measures, such as freezing the assets of terrorists, have assisted in

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controlling the spread and action of terror groups. Apart from the legal approaches, other

strategies to counter terrorism include hardening the targets of terrorists, commanding and

controlling all security responses, damage mitigation, beefing up local security, and ensuring that

medical services are adequate if such attacks take place.

Just like their male counterparts, women terrorists have motivations to participate in the

vice. Although some of the motivations are common to both genders, others are more specific to

women. Roles played by women in terror groups are almost similar to those of male

counterparts. However, the latter stand a better chance of successfully conducting terror attacks

as they are less suspected. In addition, their presence in terrorist groups helps keep the men

composed. As the trend appears, the participation of women in terror groups increases gradually.

From the research conducted, the confidence that terrorist group leaders have on women has

increased (Hammond 2005). Thus, other women are forced to join groups with conditional offers

and threats.

From the discussion, there are many reasons that motivate women to support or join

terrorist groups. At times, a number of motivations combine in the drive of females into

terrorism. Since some of them are very committed, they actively participate in their roles and

lead successful terrors attacks. Such success is highly spread through the media, which only

results in more participation of women in terror groups.

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References

Alexander, Y & Finger, S 1977, Terrorism. 1st ed. New York: John Jay Press.

Beyer, C 2010, Counterterrorism and international power relations. 1st ed. London: Tauris

Academic Studies.

Blee, K 2005, ‘Women and organized racial terrorism in the United States’. Studies in Conflict &

Terrorism, vol. 28, no. 5, pp.421-433.

de Leede, S 2014, Afghan women and the Taliban: An exploratory assessment. ICCT Policy

Briefs.

Du Mont, R 2002, Defining terrorism. 1st ed. Newport, R.I.: Naval War College.

Hammond, P 2005, Slavery, terrorism & Islam. 1st ed. Cape Town, South Africa: Christian

Liberty Books.

‘Fighting for God: Motivations and aims of religious terrorists’ 2003. Terrorism and Political

Violence, vol. 15, no. 4, pp.190-201.

O'Kane, R 2007, Terrorism. 1st ed. Harlow: Pearson Longman.

Pedahzur, A 2006, Root causes of suicide terrorism. 1st ed. New York: Routledge.

Pillar, P 2001, Terrorism and U.S. foreign policy. 1st ed. Washington, D.C.: Brookings

Institution Press.