Nurturer, Victim, Seductress: Gendered Roles in Terrorism
Abstract
Scholars and the media largely treat terrorism as male dominated. This thesis contends that there is value in investing time to identify gendered bias, and examines womens involvement in terrorist networks in Sri Lanka. Chechnya, and Colombia. While there are fewer occurrences of women in terrorism than men, statistics may not accurately reflect the true number of women involved in terrorism because many interactions and events go unreported. The long history of women in terrorism and evidence of their significant roles in terrorist organizations is indicative that the female terrorist may be underestimated because of her gendered role in society. The popular belief that women join terrorist organizations due to coercion or use of force is controversial. This study indicates women in Sri Lanka, Chechnya, and Colombia joined voluntarily and that womens gendered roles are temporarily set aside during war. The unintended consequence of bias influences perception of female terrorists that women are naturally weak, passive, and incapable of violence and hinders advancing gender role equality that can act as a deterrent to terrorism.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Apr 20, 2018
- Accession Number
- AD1051133
Entities
People
- Paige A. Sherman
Organizations
- Joint Forces Staff College