Abstract
This chapter concerns the radicalization of women toward brutal extremism and their participation in terrorism. In the first part of the chapter the author presents the problem of female radicalization as one of the greatest modern challenges facing counterterrorist systems. Radicalization can therefore be understood as a process that develops in connection with a particular political movement and entails the readiness to use extraordinary measures to achieve extremist aims. The second part of the chapter deals with women’s motives for involvement in terrorist organizations and their roles as members. The author shows that the activeness of women as terrorists is a worldwide phenomenon. It has been observed in national liberation and separatist groups, right-wing (AN, KKK), religious (Hezbollah, Hamas, AQ, LRA), revolutionary (FARC, SL), and single-issue groups (ALF, ELF, SHAC). Women, like men, take on different functions in terrorist groups. Women’s participation in terrorism is determined by the group’s structure, the distribution of functions, and the status associated with them. Women’s duties and privileges arise from their roles. They do not necessarily have to reflect the status of women and men in the community to which the group refers or in which it operates.
A terrorist does not simply weigh risks against the likelihood of success, as is normally the case, but adds into the equation the abstract value of the cause for which he or she is fighting.
de Cataldo Neuburger and Valentini (1996, p. 66)
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
- 2.
For the ETA, see Hamilton (2007).
- 3.
An instruction manual for such activity, entitled Closed: 99 Ways to Stop Abortion, was drawn up in 1985 by Jospeh M. Sheidler. It is freely available on the Internet.
- 4.
The waves of terrorism are discussed in Chap. 4.
- 5.
The Lord’s Resistance Army is a partisan unit acting under the leadership of Joseph Kony on the territory of Uganda, the Central African Republic, Congo and South Sudan. Ideologically, it refers to the Catholic faith, mysticism, folk beliefs, and the prophecies of the group’s leader. The organization recruits (frequently through abduction) to its military structures mainly children, including girls, whose functions include logistics connected, among other things, with espionage, cooking, providing sexual services, and entering into forced marriages with fighters. From July 2009 to February 2012, 591 cases of forced recruiting of children, including 258 girls, to the LRA have been noted. See UN Security Council (2012).
- 6.
For more, see the case of the Netherlands: Groen and Kranenberg (2010).
- 7.
The Women in Daesh: Deconstructing Complex Gender Dynamics in Daesh Recruitment and Propaganda, The Carter Center: May 2017, https://www.cartercenter.org/resources/pdfs/peace/conflict_resolution/countering-isis/women-in-daesh.pdf. Accessed on 3 September 2018.
- 8.
A Suicide Attack Database (SAD) is being drawn up, taking into account the attacker’s gender, education, occupation, and religion. See CPOST-SAD: http://cpostdata.uchicago.edu/search_new.php. Accessed on 8 October 2018.
References
Åhäll, L. (2015). Sexing war/policing gender: Motherhood, myth and women’s political violence. London: Routledge.
AIVD. (2008). Annual report 2007. The Hague: General Intelligence and Security Service (AIVD). Retrieved September 3, 2019, from https://english.aivd.nl/publications/annual-report/2008/11/08/annual-report-2007
Alakoc, B. P. (2018, September 10). Femme fatale: The lethality of female suicide bombers. Studies in Conflict & Terrorism (p. 2). Retrieved October 3, 2018, from https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1057610X.2018.1505685
Alexander, A. (2016, November). Cruel intentions: Female Jihadist in America. Washington, DC: George Washington University. Retrieved September 3, 2019, from https://extremism.gwu.edu/sites/g/files/zaxdzs2191/f/downloads/Female%20Jihadists%20in%20America.pdf
Alison, M. H. (2009). Women and political violence: Female combatants in ethno-national conflict. London: Routledge.
Anderson, B. (2006). Imagined communities: Reflection of the origins and spread of nationalism (2nd ed.). London: Verso.
Archer, J. (2004). Sex differences in aggression in real-world settings: A meta-analytic review. Review of General Psychology, 8(4), 291–322.
Bakker, E. (2006). Jihadi terrorists in Europe, their characteristics and the circumstances in which they joined the Jihad: An exploratory study. The Hague: Clingendael Institute. Retrieved September 8, 2018, from https://www.clingendael.org/sites/default/files/pdfs/20061200_cscp_csp_bakker.pdf
Bandura, A. (2002). Selective moral disengagement in the exercise of moral agency. Journal of Moral Education, 31(2), 101–119.
Berger, M. (2007). Radicalisation in international perspective: How successful is democratisation in countering radicalisation? In The National Coordinator for Counterterrorism – the Netherlands (Ed.), Radicalisation in broader perspective (pp. 14–21). Breda: Broese & Peereboom.
Blee, K. B. (2002). Inside organized racism: Women in the hate movement. Berkley: University of California.
Blee, K. M. (2005). Women and organized racial terrorism in the USA. Studies in Conflicts and Terrorism, 28(25), 428–430.
Bloom, M. (2005, November 29). Terror’s stealth weapon: Women. The Los Angeles Times.
Bloom, M. (2007). Female suicide bombers: A global trend. Deadalus, 136(1), 94–102.
Bloom, M. (2011). Bombshell: The many faces of women terrorism. London: Hurst.
Bloom, M. (2014, August 6). Female suicide bombers are not a new phenomenon. Washington Post (online).
Bolechów, B. (2010). Terroryzm: aktorzy, statyści, widownie. Warsaw: PWN.
Buijs, F. J., Demant, F., & Hamdy, A. (2006). Strijders van eigen bodem. Radicale en democratische moslims in Nederland. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press.
Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz. (2016, October). Analyse der Radikalisierungshintergründe und -Verläufe der Personen, die aus islamistischer Motivation aus Deutschland in Richtung Syrien oder Irak ausgereist sind. Wiesbaden, Köln: Bundeskriminalamt (BKA), Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz (BfV) und Hessisches Informations- und Kompetenzzentrum Gegen Extremismus (HKE). Retrieved September 4, 2019, from https://www.verfassungsschutz.de/embed/analyse-der-radikalisierungshintergruende-fortschreibung-2016.pdf
Clutterbuck, L. (2007). Radicalisation and extremism in the UK: The role of the radical clerics. In The National Coordinator for Counterterrorism – the Netherlands (Ed.), Radicalisation in broader perspective (pp. 71–83). Breda: Broese & Peereboom.
Cota-McKinley, A. L., Woody, W. D., & Bell, P. A. (2001). Vengeance: Effects of gender, age and religious background. Aggressive Behavior, 27(5), 343–350.
Cragin, R. K., & Daly, S. A. (2009). Women as terrorists: Mothers, recruiters and martyrs (pp. 24–100). Santa Barbara: Praeger Security International.
Crenshaw, M. (2000). The psychology of terrorism: An agenda for the 21st century. Political Psychology, 21(2), 405–420.
Crenshaw, M. (2012). The causes of terrorism. In J. Horgan & K. Braddock (Eds.), Terrorism studies: A reader (pp. 99–114). London: Routledge.
Cunningham, K. J. (2003). Cross-regional trends in female terrorism. Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, 26(3), 171–195.
Cunningham, K. J. (2012). Countering female terrorism. In J. Horgan & K. Braddock (Eds.), Terrorism studies: A reader (pp. 439–453). London: Routledge.
Dabbs, J. M., & Morris, R. (1990). Testosterone, social class and antisocial behavior in a sample of 4,462 men. Psychological Science, 1(3), 209–211.
Davies, J. (2017). Women in modern terrorism. Lanham: Rowman & Littelfield.
Davis, A. Y. (1981). Women, race and class. New York: Random House.
Davis, J. (2006). Women and radical Islamic terrorism: Planners, perpetrators, patrons? Toronto: Canadian Institute of Strategic Studies.
de Cataldo Neuburger, L., & Valentini, T. (1996). Women and terrorism. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
de Leede, S. (2018, September). Women in Jihad: A historical perspective. ICCT Policy Brief. The Hague: ICCT. Retrieved September 30, 2018, from https://icct.nl/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/ICCT-deLeede-Women-in-Jihad-Sept2018.pdf
de Leede, S., Haubfleisch, R., & Korolkov, K., & Natter, M. (2017, December 21). Radicalisation and violent extremism—Focus on women: How women become radicalized how to empower them to prevent radicalization. Brussels: Committee on Women’s Right and Gender Equality EU Parliament. Retrieved September 8, 2019, from http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/STUD/2017/596838/IPOL_STU(2017)596838_EN.pdf
de Mas, P. (2007). Forty years of interaction between the Netherlands and Morocco and the impact of the migration network on processes of radicalisation in both countries. In The National Coordinator for Counterterrorism – the Netherlands (Ed.), Radicalisation in broader perspective (pp. 85–117). Breda: Broese & Peereboom.
Der Spiegel. (2018, July 16). The many shortcomings of Germany’s Neo-Nazi terror trial. Retrieved September 1, 2019, from https://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/neo-nazi-terror-trial-fails-to-answer-all-questions-a-1218727.html
Eagly, A. H., & Steffen, V. J. (1986). Gender and aggressive behavior: A meta-analytic review of the social psychological literature. Psychological Bulletin, 100(3), 309–330.
Eckert, R. (2009, November). Stufen der Radikalisierung und Exit-Optionen. Policy: Politische Akademie. Determinanten von Radikalisierung in muslimischen Milieus aus deutsch-britischer Perspektive, 34. Berlin: Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, 5–6. Retrieved September 5, 2019, from http://library.fes.de/pdf-files/akademie/berlin/06936.pdf
Eckert, R. (2016). Radikalisierung und Gewaltprävention seit 25 Jahren. In S. Voss & E. Marks (Eds.), 25 Jahre Gewaltprävention im vereinten Deutschland Bestandsaufnahme und Perspektiven, Internetdokumentation des Symposions “25 Jahre Gewaltprävention im vereinten Deutschland – Bestandsaufnahme und Perspektiven” (pp. 1–28). Berlin. Retrieved September 2, 2019, from http://www.gewalt-praevention.info/html/download.cms?id=80&datei=Eckert-I-80.pdf
Frodi, A., MaCaulay, J., & Thome, P. R. (1977). Are women always less aggressive than men? A review of the experimental literature. Psychological Bulletin, 84(4), 634–660.
Gasztold, A. (2019). Udział kobiet w organizacjach terrorystycznych. Hiperkobieta – Hiperterrorystka. Kwartalnik Naukowy OAP UW “e-Politikon”, 30, 29–49.
Groen, J., & Kranenberg, A. (2010). Women warriors for Allah: An Islamic network in the Netherlands (R. Naborn, Trans.). Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
Hamilton, C. (2007). Women and ETA: The gender politics of radical Basque nationalism. Manchester: Manchester University Press.
Handler, J. P. (1990). Socioeconomic profile of an American terrorist: 1960s and 1970s. Terrorism, 13(3), 195–213.
Herath, T. (2012). Women in terrorism: Case of the LTTE. London: Sage.
Hlouchova, I. (2018). Private security and military companies and foreign fighters: Possible interactions and potential practical implications. In A. Gruszczak & P. Frankowski (Eds.), Technology, ethics and the proof of modern war (pp. 41–54). London: Routledge.
Horgan, J. (2005). The psychology of terrorism. New York: Routledge/Taylor & Francis.
Hyde, J. P. (1984). How large are gender differences in aggression? A developmental meta-analysis. Developmental Psychology, 20(4), 722–736.
Jacques, K., & Taylor, P. J. (2013). Myths and realities of female-perpetrated terrorism. Law and Human Behavior, 37, 35–44.
Jałoszyński, K. (2008). Współczesny wymiar antyterroryzmu. Warsaw: Wydawnictwo TRIO.
Jinan, & Oberlé, T. (2015). Esclave de Daesh. Paris: Fayard.
Jusik, J. (2006). Narzeczone Allaha, Terrorystki-samobójczynie z Czeczenii. Katowice: Videograf II.
Kaplan, G. (2013). Contemporary Western European feminism. London: Routledge.
Karcher, K. (2016). From student riots to feminist firebombs: Debates about ‘counterviolence’ in the west German student movement and women’s movement. Women in German Yearbook: Feminist Studies in German Literature & Culture, 32, 50–75.
Khalaf, F., & Hoffman, A. C. (2016). The girl who escaped ISIS: This is my story. London: Square Peg.
Khosrokhavar, F. (2016). Radikalisierung. Hamburg: Europäische Verlagsanstalt.
Kiely, D. M. (2005). Deadlier than the male: Ireland’s female killers. Dublin: Gill & Macmillan.
Kirk, R. (1997). The monkey’s paw: New chronicles from Peru. Amherst: University of Massachusetts.
Klausen, J. (2014, October 1). They’re coming: Measuring the threat from returning Jihadist. Foreign Affairs (online). Retrieved January 26, 2019, from https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/iraq/2014-10-01/theyre-coming
Kneip, K. (2016). Female Jihad—Women in the ISIS. Politikon, 29, 88–106. Retrieved August 7, 2018, from http://www.iapsp.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/88_Volume-29.pdf
Koomen, W., & van der Pligt, J. (2016). The psychology of radicalization and terrorism. London: Routledge.
MacDonald, E. (1992). Shoot the women first. New York: Random House.
Maghaddam, F. M. (2005). The staircase to terrorism: A psychological exploration. American Psychologist, 60(2), 161–169.
Mahan, P., & Griset, P. L. (2008). Terrorism in perspective. Thousand Oaks: Sage.
McCauley, C., & Moskalenko, S. (2008). Mechanism of political radicalization: Pathways toward terrorism. Terrorism and Political Violence, 3(20), 415–433.
Meines, M. (2007). Radicalisation and its prevention from the Dutch perspective. In The National Coordinator for Counterterrorism – the Netherlands (Ed.), Radicalisation in broader perspective (pp. 34–39). Breda: Broese & Peereboom.
Mellis, C. (2007). Amsterdam and radicalisation: The municipal approach. In The National Coordinator for Counterterrorism – the Netherlands (Ed.), Radicalisation in broader perspective (pp. 40–46). Breda: Broese & Peereboom.
Melzer, P. (2015). Death in the shape of a young girl: Women’s political violence in the red army faction. New York: New York University Press.
Nacos, B. L. (2005). The portrayal of female terrorists in the media: Similar framing patterns in the news coverage of women in politics and terrorism. Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, 28(5), 435–451.
NARAL Pro-choice America Foundation. (2017). Anti-choice violence and intimidation. Retrieved August 31, 2018, from https://www.prochoiceamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/1.-Anti-Choice-Violence-and-Intimidation.pdf
Ness, C. D. (2005). In the name of the cause: Women’s work in secular and religious terrorism. Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, 28(5), 353–373.
Nordstrom, C. (2008). (Gendered) war. In C. D. Ness (Ed.), Female terrorism and militancy: Agency, utility and organization (pp. 69–83). New York: Routledge.
O’Rourke, L. A. (2009). What’s special about female suicide terrorism? Security Studies, 18(4), 681–718.
Öcalan, A. (2017). The political thought of Abdullah Öcalan: Kurdistan, women’s revolution and democratic confederalism. London: Pluto Press.
Pearson, E. (2016). The case of Roshonara Choudhry: Implications for theory on online radicalization, ISIS women and the gendered Jihad. Policy and Internet, 8(1), 5–33. Retrieved June 4, 2018, from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/poi3.101
Pearson, E., & Winterbotham, E. (2017). Women, gender and daesh radicalisation: A milieu approach. The RUSI Journal, 162(3), 60–72.
Peterka-Benton, D., & Benton, B. (2014). Effects of cultural collectivism on terrorism favorability. Journal of Applied Security Research, 9(1), 17–40.
Pettman, J. J. (1996). Worlding women: A feminist international politics. London: Routledge (e book 2005).
Phillips, P. J. (2013, October 31). Female lone wolf terrorism: Critiquing the economic analysis of uniquely gendered lived experiences. Toowoomba: University of Southern Queensland. Retrieved November 9, 2018, from https://paperp.ssrn.com/sol3/paperp.cfm?abstract_id=2347881
Quazi, F. (2011). The Mujahidaat: Tracing the early female warriors of Islam. In L. Sjoberg & C. E. Gentry (Eds.), Women, gender and terrorism (pp. 29–56). London: University of Georgia Press.
Rabasa, A., & Benard, C. (2015). Eurojihad: Patterns of Islamist radicalization and terrorism in Europe. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Radicalisation. (2019). European Commission. In Migration and home affairs glossary. Retrieved October 1, 2019, from https://ec.europa.eu/home-affairs/e-library/glossary/radicalisation_en
Reinares, F. (2004). Who are the terrorists? Analyzing changes in sociological profile among members of ETA. Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, 27(6), 465–488.
Rinehart, C. S. (2019). Sexual Jihad, The role of islam in female terrorism. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books.
Schmid, A. P. (2013, March). Radicalisation, de-radicalisation, counter-radicalisation: A conceptual discussion and literature review. ICCT Research Paper. The Hague. Retrieved December 1, 2018, from https://www.icct.nl/download/file/ICCT-Schmid-Radicalisation-De-Radicalisation-Counter-Radicalisation-March-2013.pdf
Schweitzer, Y. (2006). Introduction. In Y. Schweitzer (Ed.), Female suicide bombers: Dying for equality (pp. 7–12). Tel Aviv: The Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies—Tel Aviv University. Retrieved September 3, 2019, from https://www.files.ethz.ch/isn/91112/2006-08_Female%20Suicide%20Bombers_complete%20document.pdf
Scribner, C. (2015). After the red army faction: Gender, culture, and militancy. New York: Columbia University Press.
Shiffman, C. (2012, December 7). Jane’s jihad. From abuse to chat room: The martyr is made. Special Reports Reuters. Retrieved October 3, 2019, from http://graphics.thomsonreuters.com/12/12/JihadJaneAll.pdf
Silber, M. D., & Bhatt, A. (2007). Radicalization in the west: The homegrown threat: The NYPD Jihadist report. New York: NYPD. Retrieved May 6, 2016, from http://www.nyc.gov/html/nypd/downloads/pdf/public_information/NYPD_Report-Radicalization_in_ the_West.pdf
Silke, A. (2003). Becoming a terrorist. In A. Silke (Ed.), Terrorists, victims and society: Psychological perspectives on terrorism and its consequences (pp. 29–53). New York: Wiley.
Silke, A. (2008). Holy warriors, exploring the psychological process of Jihadi radicalization. European Journal of Criminology, 5(1), 99–123.
Silke, A. (Ed.). (2011). The psychology of counter-terrorism. New York: Routledge.
Speckhard, A., & Akhmedowa, K. (2008). Black widows and beyond: Understanding the motivation and life trajectories of Chechen female terrorist. In C. D. Ness (Ed.), Female terrorism and militancy: Agency, utility and organization (pp. 100–121). New York: Routledge.
Spencer, A. N. (2016, Fall). The hidden face of terrorism: An analysis of the women in Islamic State. Journal of Strategic Security, 9(3), 74–98.
Tajfel, H., & Turner, J. C. (1979). An integrative theory of intergroup conflict. In P. Worchel & W. G. Austin (Eds.), The social psychology of intergroup relations (pp. 33–47). Monterey: Brooks-Cole.
The Guardian. (2009, February 3). Iraq forces arrest suspected recruiter of female suicide bombers. Retrieved September 3, 2019, from https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/feb/03/iraq-suicide-bomb-recruiter-suspect
Third, A. (2014a). Gender and the political: Deconstructing the female terrorist. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Third, A. (2014b). Mediating the female terrorist: Patricia Hearst and the containment of the feminist terrorist threat in the United States in 1970s. Historical Social Research, 39(3), 150–175.
Tsintsadze-Maass, E., & Maass, R. W. (2014). Groupthink and terrorist radicalisation. Terrorism and Political Violence, 26(5), 735–758.
UN Security Council. (2012, May 25). Report of the secretary-general on the situation of children and armed conflict affected by the Lord’s Resistance Army (p. 5). S/2012/365. Retrieved September 8, 2019, from https://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=S/2012/365&Lang=E&Area=UNDOC
Uwakwe, B. O., & Miapyen, B. S. (2018). Boko Haram and identity reconstruction in Lake Chad Basin region. In P. Frankowski & A. Gruszczak (Eds.), Cross-disciplinary perspectives on regional and global security (pp. 141–163). Cham: Palgrave Macmillan.
Van Ginkel, B., & Entenmann, E. (Eds.). (2016). The foreign fighters phenomenon in the European Union: Profiles, threats & policies. The Hague: ICCT.
Van Vugt, M., de Cremer, D., & Janssen, D. P. (2007). Gender differences in cooperation and competition: The male-warrior hypothesis. Psychological Science, 18(1), 19–23.
Veldhuis, T., & Bakker, E. (2009). Muslims in the Netherlands: Tensions and violent conflict. In M. Emerson (Ed.), Ethno-religious conflict in Europe: Typologies of radicalization in Europe’s Muslim communities (pp. 81–109). Brussels: Centre for European Policy Studies.
Veldhuis, T., & Staun, J. (2009, October). Islamist radicalisation: A root cause model. The Hague: Netherlands Institute of International Relations Clingendael.
Vergani, M. (2018, September 10). The three Ps of radicalization: Push, pull and personal. A systematic scoping review of the scientific evidence about radicalization into violent extremism. Studies in Conflict and Terrorism. Retrieved September 4, 2018, from https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1057610X.2018.1505686
Victoroff, J., & Kruglanski, A. W. (Eds.). (2009). Psychology of terrorism: Classic and contemporary insights. New York: Hove.
Warner, J., & Matfess, H. (2017, August). Exploding stereotypes: The unexpected operational and demographic of Boko Haram’s suicide bombers, combating (p. 4). West Point: Terrorism Center at Westpoint United States Academy. Retrieved September 9, 2017, from https://ctc.usma.edu/app/uploads/2017/08/Exploding-Stereotypes-1.pdf
Wilner, A. S., & Dubouloz, C.-J. (2011). Transformative radicalization: Applying learning theory to Islamist radicalization. Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, 34(5), 418–438.
Worrall, J., Mabon, S., & Clubb, G. (2015). Hezbollah: From Islamic resistance to government. London: Praeger Security International.
Zedalis, D. D. (2008). Beyond the bombings: Analyzing female suicide bombers. In C. D. Ness (Ed.), Female terrorism and militancy: Agency, utility, and organization (pp. 49–68). London: Routledge.
Zięba, A. (2015). Problem udziału kobiet w organizacjach terrorystycznych. In P. de la Fuente, W. Gizicki, & C. Taracha (Eds.), Terroryzm wczoraj i dziś. Wybrane problem (pp. 49–65). Lublin: KUL – Instytut Sądecko-Lubelski.
Zięba, A., & Szlachter, D. (2015). Countering radicalisation of Muslim community opinions on the EU level. International Studies: Interdisciplinary Political and Cultural Journal, 17(1), 119–144.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2020 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Gasztold, A. (2020). The Specificity of Female Terrorism. In: Feminist Perspectives on Terrorism. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-37234-7_5
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-37234-7_5
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-37233-0
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-37234-7
eBook Packages: Political Science and International StudiesPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)