Gender, insurgency, and terrorism: introduction to the special issue

KEYWORDS:

• Gender
• terrorism
• insurgency
• suicide terrorism
• counter-terrorism
• counter-insurgency

‘A four-year military operation to flush out the Islamic State from its territory in Iraq and Syria ended as the last village held by the terrorist group was retaken in March 2019 … ’.¹ In the months that preceded this final takeover in Baghuz, Syria, ISIS was dwindling in strength. Over a thousand fighters and civilians, including many Islamic State militants’ wives and children have fled.² One thing among many that stood out was the fact that Western women, who once traveled to Iraq and Syria wanted to return. Such accounts of Western women who joined ISIS, the muhajirats are regularly featured in news reports now. American Hoda Muthana was 20, when she left Alabama to join ISIS. Kimberly Gwen Polman, 46 studied legal administration in Canada before joining ISIS and had dual US and Canadian citizenship.³ Shamima Begum, a 19-year-old woman who left Britain in 2015 to join the ISIS wanted to return home in February 2019 as IS was losing its foothold in Syria and Iraq. In 2015, she and two of her classmates from Bethnal Green in east London flew to Turkey from Gatwick airport and then boarded a bus to the Syrian border. They were known as the Bethnal girls and became the face of young women drawn to jihadist girl-power subculture.⁴ A pertinent question that arises out of these cases is – why these women joined the ISIS and were willing to travel to Syria and Iraq?

While Islamic State propaganda has changed in the recent years to allow and celebrate female participation in military roles, pointing towards an ideological appeal, it does not give us the entire picture while deciphering the motivations of why Western women joined ISIS. In October 2017, the movement’s newspaper called on women to prepare for battle, by early 2018 the group was openly praising its female fighters in the video.⁵ The video showed a woman holding an AK-47 and the narration described her as, ‘the chaste mujahed woman journeying to her Lord with the garments of purity and faith, seeking revenge for her religion and for the honor of her sisters.’⁶ There are clearly different motivations for some women compared to others to join such organizations. Participation of women in ISIS is also tactical to a large extent and the move to allow female combatants depicts a sense of desperation.⁷ While motives for joining ISIS are important to understand the inner workings of the group, another area of concern is related to counter-terrorism. As pointed out by Mironova, some government security forces are not always prepared to respond to the changing nature of combatants in ISIS.

Since 2011, at least 25 known cases of jihadist women with a connection to the US have emerged and they serve a variety of roles. The cases are diverse in demographic data, suggesting that an overarching profile of female jihadist is not applicable.⁸ These cases have renewed the discussion of understanding gender in terrorism and insurgency, not only in the context of ISIS but, in a broader context, applicable to different terrorist groups in various regions of the world also. This special issue focuses on gender, insurgency, and terrorism from different angles in various conflict regions in the world and looks at the diverse terrorist and insurgent groups.

Gender and terrorism

Gender describes the socially constructed behavioral expectations, stereotypes, and rules that construct masculinity and feminity.⁹ Gender as a social construct has a significant impact on our lives and defines power relations throughout socio-political domains in rigid and restrictive ways. Gender also impacts political violence including terrorism and insurgency. Gender in terrorism means how we view masculine and feminine ways of participation, perpetration, and victimization. A gendered interpretation of political violence acknowledges that politics and states project masculine power and privilege.¹⁰ However, a gendered lens to understand terrorism is complex and recognizes the various nuances of how women participate in terrorism and counterterrorism and/or when they become victims of it.

The articles in this volume offer such a nuanced view of how women’s role in political violence, particularly insurgency, terrorism and counter-terrorism as the main focal point of understanding gender and terrorism. Scholars analyze both the micro and macro foundations to explain how and why women participate in such violence, when and how they become victims, and how they counter and respond to it. These questions reveal how political contexts, social structures, terrorist organization profiles impact women in complex and myriad ways. The articles make several important contributions to the growing literature on women and terrorism to understand the causes and consequences of women’s participation in terrorism and counter-terrorism, and the ideological and strategical underpinnings of involving women in such violence.

Women’s role in different types of insurgency and terrorism

Women’s participation in terrorist and extremist acts is not new and throughout history, women have played intrinsic roles in the planning and carrying out terrorist attacks.¹¹ Gentry and Sjoberg analyze how women were affiliated with Russian nihilist organization – Norodnya Volya in the late nineteenth century as well as the Socialist Revolutionary Party in the early twentieth century.¹² More recently, women have been involved in several terrorist organizations such as Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), Hamas, Al-Qaeda, Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka, Communist Party of India (Maoist), Bader-Meinhof gang in Germany, Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), Black Widows of Chechnya, Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Columbia (FARC), Islamic State, the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) to name a few. Not only terrorism, women have also participated in wide-ranging violent movements as supporters and combatants.¹³

In many of these organizations, women’s participation was acknowledged by specific rituals and practices. The Black Widows were a female terrorist organization that supported the struggle for Chechen independence and developed a unique uniform to distinguish themselves from regular Chechen rebel units. It included a complete black dress with a martyr’s belt filled with explosives.¹⁴ The role of women became prominent in the LTTE in 1983 and there was an entire division of women called the Women’s Front of the Liberation Tigers. Furthermore, the LTTE’s elite women’s suicide squad was called the Black Tigers.¹⁵ Women have played various roles in the Shining Path including teachers who spread Shining Path philosophies and as fighters.¹⁶

Mia Bloom mentions, women play multiple roles in the terrorism realm: ‘sympathizer, mobilizer, preventer and perpetrator.’¹⁷ Many aspects of terrorism analysis assume that men and women will serve in different capacities within a terrorist organization. Moreover, terrorism studies produce certain kinds of masculinized forms of knowledge which relegates women, gender and gender identities in terrorism.¹⁸ Recent trends in women’s participation indicate that there are various perspectives, motivations, ambitions, goals and political agency of female participants in terrorism and insurgency. The terrorist women, however, are ‘doubly deviant’ for breaking the law and the unwritten codes of being a proper woman and therefore, ‘doubly damned.’¹⁹ As women involved in terrorism commit this double act of transgression – by transgressing the law at one level and transgressing assumptions about gender on the other level, their violence, because it contradicts the norms of gendered behavior, is then perceived as more excessive than men’s.²⁰

As women’s participation in terrorism is perceived to defy the norms that are usually associated or attributed to women, it provides a huge tactical advantage to groups because counter-terrorism is still riddled with stereotypical notions about who can or cannot be a terrorist. Women can evade security checks more easily than men in some cases. They can hide vests or belts under their clothing and in many cultures and religions, men are not allowed to search women.²¹ Moreover, female terrorists attract unprecedented media attention and such a sensationalism favors the terrorist groups.²² Not only at the tactical level but in academic discussion and analysis also, existing stereotypes regarding terrorists make it difficult to understand the role of women who commit acts of political violence. They are perceived as ‘paradoxical figures and cannot be accommodated to discourses about terrorism.’²³ The articles presented in this special issue bring women to the forefront of discussion of contemporary terrorism and counterterrorism, thereby addressing the gap that is still prevalent in terrorism and counter-terrorism literature.

Why women participate in terrorism

Women’s motivations to join terrorism are often misunderstood. At the individual level, the choice to participate deems the woman as devoid of the usual traits of women. In some cases, female terrorists are seen as lacking any emotion other than anger and vengeance.²⁴ Morgan depicts them as ‘empty headed women gone wrong’. Women’s actions are also seen essentially as an imitation of their male counterparts. Weinberg and Eubank argue that 'romantic and affectional ties’ to husbands and brothers who are engaged in violence can become motivating factors.²⁵ Neuberger and Valentine sees women as models of sacrifice within these settings. On one hand, it is seen as an extreme form of deviance and on the other, an act of commitment. However, women lead complex lives.²⁶ Explanations of women’s participation in terrorism are fraught with gendered narratives that fail to evaluate the phenomena from multiple levels. However, as recent cases suggest, the lines of logic defining women’s roles within jihadist groups, for instance, derive from various religious, ideological, logistical, social, and personal considerations.²⁷ Many scholars point out that ‘women have no fewer motives than men for engaging in jihad.’²⁸

The increasing number of women participants in terrorism also indicates a strategic necessity on the part of terrorist organizations. Those that are struggling with a shortage of personnel because male members are captured or killed are therefore turning to women to join their ranks.²⁹ Several methods are used by organizations to recruit women including physical and emotional coercion, conducting internet campaigns and pitching an ideological appeal.³⁰ The LTTE in Sri Lanka claimed that by joining the organization, women not only helped in the liberation movement for their homeland but liberated themselves in the process.³¹ However, in actuality, several reports indicated that LTTE mistreated women who were outside the organization and women were included in the organization because LTTE wanted to secure a steady supply of personnel.³² Fink’s study on terrorism and political violence reveals that there is a recent trend of Bangladeshi women supporting or encouraging jihad, with women targeted in recruitment drives because they arouse less suspicion and can engage in a community outreach program with increased accessibility.³³

Cunningham suggests that ‘contextual pressures create a convergence between individual women, terrorist organization leaders and society that ultimately increases women’s participation in terrorism.³⁴ Jessica Stern uses the social contagion theory to discuss how cultures of violence can be contagious and contribute to more women joining the violence.³⁵ By contrast, Sutten argues that grief or revenge, ideology, financial hardship, personal and family shame and protection of self and family are often by-products of the environment or culture in which women live.³⁶ Another important consideration is coercion and victimization of women in certain contexts. For instance, in many regions of the world women are victims of highly patriarchal society and terrorist organizations.

While discussing suicide terrorism Bhatia and Knight point out that several interrelated factors such as tormented society, individual motivations, and the existence of extremist organizations are responsible for women’s choice to participate in terrorism.³⁷ The Tamil Tigers are well known for recruiting women suicide bombers. According to Balasingham, the two main reasons that prompted this were existing oppression in the Sri Lankan society and the vulnerability of women to unknown forces during conflicts. Other social circumstances that contributed to individual motivations to join this squad of women suicide terrorism included violations of women’s human rights including rape, sexual harassment at checkpoints and other violations due to internal displacement and refugee situation.³⁸ Bhatia and Knight further point out that female suicide bombers can also be viewed as victims in addition to being perpetrators.³⁹ Often, they are victims of patriarchal societies that routinely relegate women to the background. While reporting on the massive involvement of women in Chechen struggle, Maria Zhirkova discusses that sometimes women are drugged, raped and forced to be involved in terrorism.⁴⁰ In Russia, this process is termed ‘zombification’.⁴¹ The impact and link between drugs, brainwashing, blackmail, and zombification is a significant contributor of making women involved in suicide terrorism to be involuntarily enslaved.⁴²

Articles in this special issue

The articles in this special issue explore women’s involvement in terrorism, insurgency and also counter-terrorism. They also focus on understanding how women are affected by political violence. Henshaw et al.’s paper, ‘Understanding Women at War: A Mixed-Methods Exploration of Leadership in Non-State Armed Groups,’ explores key aspects of female engagement in civil conflict by looking at degrees to which women participate in leadership roles in non-state armed groups (NSAGs). The authors use a mixed-method research with a comprehensive dataset of women’s leadership in NSAGs active between 1979 and 2009. Their findings indicate that in addition to the link between combat and leadership roles, women are more likely to appear in leadership roles in leftist organizations. This paper also emphasizes that there is evidence of dynamic change in the role of women within the jihadist group as women are seeking out new roles. The paper specifies different trends in women’s leadership – women leading other women within the organization, women leading as relatives of male leaders and combatants, political leadership and women, and as spiritual and mythical leaders. The paper provides a very nuanced discussion of the multifaceted role of women’s leadership in NSAGs and what impact it might have for women’s participation in such organizations in general.

In ‘The Ballot or the Bomb Belt: The Roots of Female Suicide Terrorism Before and After 9/11,’ authors, Willis and Jahanbani use quantitative analysis to explore two types of structural factors to understand female suicide terrorism. At one level, they explore factors that primarily affect women such as female political empowerment, female access to education and employment opportunities, and at another level, they explore general structural factors such as regime type, the presence of civil war and ethnic fractionalization. Their first set of findings suggest that in the post 9/11 period, female political empowerment, access to education and employment opportunities are statistically significant predictors of female suicide attacks. Furthermore, these findings show that vulnerabilities generally associated with lack of education and employment are not factors that motivate female suicide terrorism. It challenges the notion that economic inequality is a precursor to such violence. Their second set of findings show that democracy is a consistent predictor of female suicide attacks in both pre and post 9/11 periods. As for ethnic fractionalization, their study finds that it is a significant predictor of female suicide terrorism in the post 9/11 period. This study highlights the complexities associated with understanding female suicide terrorism and reiterates the fact that there is no ‘one size that fits all’ explanation to deciphering a specific pattern that leads to female suicide terrorism.

Okolie-Osmene and Okolie-Osmene uses a different theory, Routine Activity theory in the article titled, ‘Nigerian Women and the Trends of Kidnapping in the Era of Boko Haram Insurgency: Patterns and Evolution’ to understand the particular act of kidnapping of women by Boko Haram in Nigeria. This paper emphasizes the intrinsic patriarchal setup in the region to understand vulnerabilities of women. They also mention that feminization of violence by the Boko Haram happens in two paradoxical ways as young girls have dual roles – as victims and as vanguards of terror. In the paper, the authors identify Boko Haram as a criminal-terrorist organization using the kidnapping of women as a tool for recruitment, sex trafficking and extortion for weapons. Their qualitative study relies on informant interviews to reveal how women have become soft targets. They identify the problem as a multilayered one including other political vulnerabilities related to leadership failure, corruption and lack of infrastructure that contributes to the perpetuation of violence of such nature.

In the article, ‘Worth Many Sins: al-Shabab’s Shifting Relationship with Women,’ Petrich and Donnelly discuss how Al-Shaab has instrumentalized Nairobi’s sex workers as intelligent agents and are using them as informants. They argue that Al-Shabab’s treatment of women differs based on their nationality and ethnicity. For instance, the group treats Somali women differently than Kenyan women. Al-Shabab’s partnership with sex workers within Kenya reveals its tactical motivations over the ideological one. They are also part of an illicit economy and engage in the sex trafficking scheme to abduct or mislead Kenyan women to al-Shabab camps. The authors contend that Al-Shabab should be treated as a nationalist, pragmatist group rather than a dogmatic religious organization. This paper also highlights the importance of intersectionality of gender, ethnicity, and nationalism in order to understand the role of women in Al-Shabab. The data is drawn from fieldwork conducted in Nairobi and Kenya and reveals how Al-Shabab is deeply entrenched within communities beyond Somalia. It brings to the fore, previously unknown vulnerabilities while assessing why and how women are involved in groups such as Al-Shabab. It urges a different counter-terrorism policy while dealing with groups such as Al-Shabab.

Biswas and Deliyani’s paper titled, ‘Radicalizing Female Empowerment: Gender, Agency, and Affective Appeals in Islamic State Propaganda’ asks, ‘what work has ISIS done to appeal to the women from the West?’ They analyze the role of women in terrorism from the perspective of the recruiters and emphasize the affective and ideological appeals made by ISIS. Specifically, they look at ISIS’ digital propaganda magazines Dabiq and Rumiyah to show the construction of radical Islamist conception of female empowerment in understanding the role of Western women within the organization of ISIS. Their argument challenges the notion that women within the values of ISIS should be seen as only ‘Jihadi brides’ and presents alternative gender frames of understanding how women were recruited to this group. Additionally, this paper presents a vital understanding of social media in the age of the internet to understand recruitment patterns.

Okoli and Azom’s article, ‘Boko Haram Insurgency and Gendered Victimhood: Women as Corporal Victims and Objects of War,’ explores the way Boko Haram uses female suicide bombing whereby women serve as a strategic role that provides the organization with tactical opportunity but comes at the cost of systemic victimization of women. This victimization, the author argues, is rooted in the local socio-cultural and political contexts of patriarchy in Nigeria. Boko Haram exploits the persisting vulnerabilities of women in such a context. Essentially, they classify Boko Haram as predatory, and while women are included as perpetrators of terrorism, they are routinely victimized and objectified to fulfill the role of the perpetrator. The article suggests that counter-insurgency should be cognizant of creating an alternative narrative of empowering women to stop this systematic exploitation of women.

In ‘The Ligaments of Counter-Terrorism Regime: Sexual Violence and the Vicarious Traumatisation of Female Non-Governmental Organisation Workers: Evidence from Nigeria,’ Emeke Njoku explores the theory of ‘vicarious traumatization’ to understand the psychological consequences of women’s engagement in counter-terrorism, conflict resolution and/or peacebuilding processes. Using the case of Nigeria, the author examines how female NGO workers operating at the frontlines of the challenges of sexual violence in counter-terrorism operations are vicariously traumatized by their exposure to the traumas of victims of sexual violence. This study, therefore, provides an in-depth account of indirect victims of conflict-related sexual violence. It is a highly sensitive issue and this paper is a commentary on the decaying trust mechanisms between female NGO workers and the government and other formal counter-terrorism efforts. This qualitative study shows how the sense of power for female NGO workers are altered as they are confronted with male soldiers in certain locations. The paper also emphasizes the growing sense of alienation between NGO workers, advocacy networks and the Nigerian counter-terrorism operations. The authors suggest that there is an urgent demand for the presence of women in conflict resolution, but as female workers are routinely exposed to threats of being kidnapped, sexually abused by security agents or are at risk of developing mental health issues due to exposure to victims of sexual violence. The paper raises a critical area that UNSCR 1325, 2242 and CTC fails to address and that is the issue of risks or how women become victims of sexual violence while serving in counter-terrorism and conflict resolution programs.

Individually, the seven studies in this special issue offer various theories about women’s engagement in contemporary terrorism and insurgency and show that indeed this topic is complex and multi-layered. In addition, these papers offer methodological diversity to understand the interactions between gender, insurgency, and terrorism. Many of the papers that utilize qualitative methods, present first-hand data collected through ethnographic field research in conflict zones. This is a substantial contribution to our understanding of how, when and why women become involved in terrorism. Not only does it augment the existing literature on terrorism, but also offers valuable insights for counter terrorism. Some of the quantitative papers include original data sets which will benefit future research on this topic immensely.

Collectively, a fundamental assumption of this volume is that women’s participation in terrorism and insurgency provides important policy insights for counter-terrorism. Although women’s role in terrorism and insurgency is studied widely, counter-terrorism has failed to incorporate the complexities associated with this. Traditional counter-terrorism policies are still mired in stereotypical understanding of why and how women participate in political violence. By looking at the multiple roles in which women feature in terrorism and insurgency, the articles in this volume point out that women’s participation in terrorism and insurgency is a dynamic process that needs flexible ways of responding to it and must include policies that address structural weaknesses at the societal level as well as peacebuilding efforts. Military methods alone will not be able to address the complex patterns of political violence and women’s involvement in it. Another important consideration raised by one of the papers in the volume is the participation of women in counter-terrorism. As women’s participation in terrorism is increasing, it is pertinent that women are also included in counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency units. However, such engagement should be done in a sensitive way, so that women do not become victims of abuse of violence within this sphere.

The papers in the special issue show that terrorism and insurgency are indeed gendered. As research continues in this area, it will be important to pay close attention to the several dimensions of the gendering of terrorism as highlighted in these articles. Some pertinent questions specific to women’s participation in terrorism and insurgency involve understanding how differently women feature in ideologically diverse groups. For instance, do women join leadership ranks more frequently in left radical groups than right-wing organizations? What leads women to become victims and perpetrators at the same time? It is also important for future research to specify why the same condition in some contexts result in women’s involvement in terrorism, but not others. This is particularly important in understanding female suicide terrorism. It is doubtful that researchers will come up with one answer to explain why women participate in terrorism, but as the articles indicate, it is crucial to take into account the politics of marginality and how it is represented in terrorism and insurgency in a more nuanced manner.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Srobana Bhattacharya

Srobana Bhattacharya is an Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science and International Studies at Georgia Southern University. She teaches and researches in the field of Comparative Politics and International Relations, with a focus on political conflict including terrorism, insurgency and ethnic conflict.

Notes

1. Callimachi, “ISIS Caliphate Crumbles as Last Village in Syria Falls.”

2. Bond et al., “The West Needs to Take the Politics of Women in ISIS Seriously.”

3. Callimachi and Porter, “2 American Wives of ISIS Militants Want to Return Home.”

4. Mueller, “Shamima Begum, British Woman who Joined ISIS, Wants to Come Home.”

5. Mironova, “Is the Future of ISIS Female?”

6. Ibid.

7. Ibid.

8. Alexander, “Cruel Intentions.”

9. Sjoberg, Cooke, and SNeal, “Introduction,” 6.

10. Ortbals and Poloni-Staudinger, “How Gender Intersects with Political Violence and Terrorism.”

11. Sutten, The Rising Importance of Women in Terrorism.

12. Sjoberg, and Gentry, eds., Women, Gender, and Terrorism.

13. Ness, “In the Name of the Cause”; and Cunningham, “Cross-Regional Trends in Female Terrorism.”

14. Chilcote, “Russias Black Widows Wreck Terror,” as quoted in Sutten, The Rising Importance of Women in Terrorism.

15. Jordan and Denov, “Birds of Freedom?”

16. Sjoberg and Gentry, eds., Women, Gender, and Terrorism.

17. Bloom, Bombshell, as quoted in Fink, Barakat, and Shetret, “The Roles of Women in Terrorism, Conflict, and Violent Extremism.”

18. Jackson, Jarvis, Gunning, and Breen-Smyth, Terrorism.

19. Lloyd, Doubly Deviant, Doubly Damned, 19.

20. Malvern and Koureas, “Terrorist Transgressions.”

21. See note 11 above.

22. Knight and Narozhna, “Social Contagion and the Female Face of Terror.”

23. See note 20 above.

24. Cooper, “Woman as Terrorist,” as quoted in Sjoberg, Laura, and Gentry, eds., Women, Gender, and Terrorism.

25. Weinberg and Eubank, “Italian Women Terrorists.”

26. Neuburger and Valentini, Women and Terrorism, 24.

27. Alexander, “Cruel Intentions,” 11.

28. Peresin and Cervone, “The Western Muhajirat of ISIS.”

29. Stack-O’Connor, Picked Last.

30. See note 11 above.

31. Bhatia and Knight, “Female Suicide Terrorism in South Asia.”

32. Subramaniam, “How Enabled…?” as discussed in Bhatia, Vandana, and Knight, “Female Suicide Terrorism in South Asia: Comparing the Tamil Separatists and Kashmir Insurgents.”

33. Fink, Barakat and Shetret, “The Roles of Women in Terrorism, Conflict, and Violent Extremism,” 13.

34. Cunningham, “Cross-Regional Trends in Female Terrorism.”

35. Stern, “Terror in the Name of God.”

36. Sutten, The Rising Importance of Women in Terrorism.

37. Bhatia, Vandana, and Knight, “Female Suicide Terrorism in South Asia.”

38. Coomaraswamy, “Integration of, the Human Rights and the Gender Perspective”, as quoted in Bhatia, Vandana, and Knight, “Female Suicide Terrorism in South Asia.”

39. Bhatia, Vandana, and Knight, “Female Suicide Terrorism in South Asia.”

40. Groskop, “Chechnya’s Deadly “Black Widows.”

41. Ibid.

42. Sjoberg and Gentry, Mothers, Monsters, Whores.