The female jihadists of Europe

Abstract

This study is concerned with the phenomena of female jihadists in Europe. The role of women in terrorism is a under-researched topic in academia, and women’s participation in terrorism is often dismissed or re-packaged to fit in with society’s expectations of gender roles. This has left a gap in the scholarly understanding of female terrorists, and particularly of those who adhere to the jihadist ideology. Jihadist ideology has traditionally viewed and treated women as inferior to men, and their gender ideology is highly conservative and discriminating against women. Simultaneously, female jihadism in Europe is increasing which signals that the relationship between female jihadists and the male-centric jihadist ideology is changing. This study set out to investigate how the role of jihadist women has changed over time and why by analysing multiple cases of female jihadism from the era of al-Qaeda to the era of Daesh. By applying a typology framework created by a leading expert on terrorism in Europe, this study found that the role of jihadist women in Europe has changed as a result of multiple factors, including women’s own determination to participate in jihad and claim agency and due to the pragmatic choice by jihadist groups to make use of this untapped resource that women represent. The study also illustrate how the political and cultural atmosphere in Europe has influenced the growth of female jihadism, and stresses why it is imperative to apply gender as an analytical tool instead of simply using gender as a way to illustrate and define differences between the sexes. Gender must be applied as an analytical tool in terrorism studies to illustrate the relationship between gender and power.