Terrorism and women

When a woman is aggressed, raped, tortured or harassed, everyone asks “how can such a thing happen?” and we ultimately witness a unanimous engagement of society in such a case, which is comprehensible because women are the pillars of our society. But when a woman is complicit in terrorist acts, things start getting complicated.
The first questions start popping up: How can a woman be a part of such a thing? How can she act in such a way while she is the one responsible for the education of the youth?
In the past few years, and namely after the “Arab Spring”, we witnessed the rise in the numbers of women engaging in terrorist acts and groups. Some experts explain this phenomenon by basing their analysis on the personal, political and societal reasons.

Taking the personal argument, for example, women do such a thing while having in mind the idea of changing their harsh reality and making an impact on their lifestyle.

The roles of women within extremist organizations of all forms are divided into four main roles, it goes from supporting their husbands in those groups, raising a new generation of extremists, spreading their ideology, and trying to recruit new members through social media or even in person. They were successful in collecting money through the internet; they even proved that their skills are suitable for these practices by smuggling weapons and money. Recently, they have been involved in the planning and execution of terrorist operations, and somewhat strange is the increasing number of women suicide bombers, and the reason is through the spread of Islamic fatwas encouraging women to jihad to obtain validation.

Statistics show, for example, that 2016 saw the participation of 29 women in various suicide operations in the world.
In general, there are two main reasons for the use of female suicide bombers in particular. The first is on a personal level where women are trying through these practices to seek glory and forgiveness based on the belief that it is going to lead them to paradise. The second is linked to money through the belief that suicide will offer their families glory and money based on the promises of terrorist groups. In addition to the psychological factor by believing that there is no difference between men and women in jihad.

As for the terrorist organizations, their use of women is a strategic advantage and more important than the participation of men themselves in these operations. Women can easily evade detection and security procedures, in addition to the media factor which will amplify the news if it is discovered that a woman is responsible for such an act, we have the sympathy it will receive from other women who consider that this issue unites them.

Perhaps the role of terrorist women differs from one organization to the other, considering the different strategies of terrorist groups in their perception of the function of women. Like the evolution, it witnessed in al-Qaeda after the fall of Iraq.

But with Daesh, women’s role started getting more audacious with the establishment of a special battalion in 2014 called “Kataaeb Al-Khansaa”, that was led by a Tunisian woman named” Om Rayan”.

But with Daesh’s successive defeats, kamikazes and Lone wolves started making appearances.

TunisianMonitorOnline (DOUHA SAAFI)

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