Article: Gendering Terrorism Flashcards
Article: Gendering Terrorism covers…
… existing academic discussion over gender and terrorism.
Previously Gender has been erased from the history of terrorism
Women as “interlopers in an utterly male domain”
Beliefs about women involved in terrorism are shaped by embedded patterns of what constitutes appropriate female behavior and women are depicted by the media as “interlopers in an utterly male domain”.
Waves of terrorism by Rapport:
- 1880s - 1920s— “Anarchist Wave”;
- 1920s - 1960s – “Anti-Colonial Wave”;
- 1960s - 1979—the “New Left Wave”;
- 1979 → “Religious Wave.”
Terrorists = male
Terrorists = male
attitudes attributable to:
small numbers of female terrorists,
gender stereotypes,
until recently women have generally written out of terrorism studies.
Women as terrorists
Women have been active participants in many waves of terrorism around the globe.
part of terrorist movements as both supporters and fighters.
Women in “Religious Wave,”
in “Religious Wave,” women have filled manifold roles from support staff to actual perpetrators of acts of terror in insurgencies and uprisings in Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, Chechnya, Afghanistan, Palestine, Syria, Iraq, Yemen, and Kenya
Women in “Anti Colonial Wave” in Germany (1970)
the Red Army Faction, a pro-socialist organization that used violence to support third world liberation movements.
People’s Will, a Russian terrorist organization, attempted to assassinate the governor general of St. Petersburg. 10/27 members women.
In 1918, Fanny Kaplan, a member of the anti-Bolshevik Socialist Revolutionary Party, attempted to assassinate V.I. Lenin.
Women in Hezbollah and Tamil Tigers (1980s)
1980s: Hezbollah and the Tamil Tigers began to recruit, equip, and deploy female suicide bombers.
2 woman suicide bombers in Palestine
2002: Wafa Idris first Palestinian female suicide bomber and 2004: Hamas dispatched its first female suicide bomber, Reem el Riyashi.
in Palestine patriarchal cultural practices and male manipulation of family honor were motivating factors for acts of suicide.
Palestinian women who engaged in terrorism felt empowered and enjoyed a “sense of liberation,”although it was short lived because, instead of praise they were censured by the community for violating gender norms.
critique: simplistic - women terrorists generally determine their actions “inside a matrix of constraints, social expectations, and political pres- sures which are a part of the constitution of their decision-making process
Palestinian society and politics impose a “complex web of power and social relations” such that in the Arab media female suicide bombers are portrayed as symbolic brides of Palestine, appearing to acknowledge empowerment but only within patriarchal configurations
Hamas promises women they will be reunited in paradise with their husbands as a reward for their commitment, or with an arranged marriage to a Hamas member if they were unmarried when alive.
Terrorist women in Philippines and Turkey
Kurdistan Workers Party and Abu Sayyaf
Female terrorism: Motivation
Motivation showcases gender difference in terrorism.
Assumption: Male terrorists are dedicated to a cause and prepared to use violence to achieve their goals.
Difference: women terrorists are characterized as aberrant, personally motivated, and beyond the agency of the female perpetrator.
Claim: involvement represents the act of a liberated feminist or is the outcome of gender oppression (personal not ideological reasoning)
Advocates of empowerment and equality argue that now that the religious authorities have enabled women to be designated as shahidas—martyrs—a status formerly reserved to men, women have gained status within Islamic society
critique: simplifying - women terrorists generally determine their actions “inside a matrix of constraints, social expectations, and political pressures which are a part of the constitution of their decision-making process”
e. g. Palestinian society and politics impose a “complex web of power and social relations” such that in the Arab media female suicide bombers are portrayed as symbolic brides of Palestine, appearing to acknowledge empowerment but only within patriarchal configurations
Collective Motivation - no gender bias (Speckhard)
Rejects the notion of a “feminist cause” as the rationale for female suicide bombers
instead motivations inside conflict zones: of trauma, revenge, nationalism, expression of community outrage
in non-conflict zones: feelings of alienation, marginalization, negative self-identity, and a desire to act on behalf of those inside conflict zones”.
Motivation for both genders is in the same experiences and social practices that collectively signify “deep commitments to their communities” and therefore elide gender differences.
Focusing solely on women’s motivation for suicide bombing tends to disregard the relevance of male leaders’ strategies to recruit such women.
For example, inducements offered to potential female martyrs may include calls for gender equity in martyrdom for a cause, offers of salvation for women who have violated gender norms and been shunned by the community, revenge for the death of a relative in a terrorist act, and religious benefits.
Hamas promises women they will be reunited in paradise with their husbands as a reward for their commitment, or with an arranged marriage to a Hamas member if they were unmarried when alive.
Expected strategic advantages of using women
suicide bombers: the spectacular violence associated with weaponizing the female body has served to promote strategic terrorist aims of sustained media attention, greater sympathy for the terrorist cause, increased fear, and expand the number of potential recruits.
These strategic rewards are grounded in the assumption that women lack credibility as terrorist actors because they do not fit the stereotypical model of the terrorist. Women remain more likely to pass security measures than men and because they rarely occupy leadership positions remain more expendable than male members of terrorist groups. Women are less likely to generate suspicion, have greater capacity to hide explosives, and may be subjected to reduced security measures.
Media coverage of female terrorists tends to focus on the women’s possible motivations, whereas male terrorist motivations are subsumed by those of the terrorist group and its polit- ical goals and organization. Focusing on women can benefit the group because media cover- age may then extend beyond the terrorist act to “social conditions, discrimination, and hardships experienced by a given group” .Focusing on women can benefit the group because media coverage may then extend beyond the terrorist act to “social conditions, discrimination, and hardships experienced by a given group” .
This brief exploration of how scholars have gendered the study of terrorism has identified some of the principal emerging themes. The studies in this special issue engage with multiple aspects of the field of gender and terrorism, span a wide range of topics, build on existing studies, and add new knowledge and insights as well as offering directions for future research and policy-making.
