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Women Engaged in Violent Political Activity

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Terrorism and Violent Conflict

Part of the book series: SpringerBriefs in Political Science ((BRIEFSPOLITICAL,volume 8))

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Abstract

The New York Times describes Dzhanet Abdurakhmanova as young, 17 years old, but willing to kill. Abdurakhmanova was a Black Widow suicide bomber whose attack killed 40 people in March 2010. Why was she motivated to kill? The article explains that her husband was a Chechen insurgent killed by Russian troops in 2009. In what ways are Osama bin Laden’s wives different than Dzhanet Abdurakhmanova? Like bin Laden’s wives, we know very little about Abdurakhmanova except that she was married to a terrorist. Similar to bin Laden’s wife, Amal Ahmed al-Sadah, who incurred a leg injury while fighting back during the Abbottabad raid, Abdurakhmanova was young, fought back, and sustained injuries—yet, in her case, it cost her life. These women are dissimilar, however, in that al-Sadah is not thought of as a terrorist, as she was defending life, whereas Abdurakhmanova indeed chose to kill by ­perpetrating a terrorist act. In this chapter, we discuss women involved in violent politics, including women who assist in violence from behind the scenes and those who act as violent participants.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Politics and International Affairs, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ, USA

    Lori Poloni-Staudinger

  2. Social Science Division, Pepperdine University, Malibu, CA, USA

    Candice D. Ortbals

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  1. Lori Poloni-Staudinger
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  2. Candice D. Ortbals
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Correspondence to Lori Poloni-Staudinger .

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Poloni-Staudinger, L., Ortbals, C.D. (2013). Women Engaged in Violent Political Activity. In: Terrorism and Violent Conflict. SpringerBriefs in Political Science, vol 8. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-5641-4_3

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