Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-j824f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-09T07:13:37.384Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

6 - Women Terrorists

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 February 2011

Brian Forst
Affiliation:
American University, Washington DC
Jack R. Greene
Affiliation:
Northeastern University, Boston
James P. Lynch
Affiliation:
John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York
Get access

Summary

INTRODUCTION

This chapter examines evidence from women involved in terrorist organizations that are currently active. We examine the roles women play in existing terrorist groups and the common demographic characteristics of the women who join these groups. We also examine the motives women have for joining terrorist organizations and whether those motives differ by type of terrorist group. The evidence demonstrates that women join terrorist groups for myriad reasons, including marginalization by society, individual choice, avengement of another's death, recruitment by the organizations, and serving as pawns in a man's game. Charles Townshend, writing in Terrorism, reports:

Something like a quarter of the Russian terrorists of the 19th century were women; a proportion possibly exceeded among the German and American terrorists of the 1970s. A full third of the Communist Organized for the Liberation of the Proletariat (COLP) in Italy were women, and 31 percent of that nation's Bridate Rossi (Red Brigades). (Townshend 2002)

In an earlier paper published in 1980 that examined the historical role of women in terrorist organizations, we found that women's involvement in such organizations was not a side effect of the women's liberation movement. Rather, the evidence suggested that one of the unintended consequences of women's involvement in these organizations is that their involvement weakened traditional customs and sex roles (Benson, Evans, and Simon 1980).

Like the 1980 piece, this chapter is limited largely to anecdotal evidence about female terrorists, which creates only a thin foundation for sociological generalization.

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ann, Adele, “Women Fighters of Liberation Tigers: Women and the Struggle for Tamil Eelam,” EelamWeb (1990), available from http://www/eelamweb.com/women/.
Benson, Mike, Evans, Mariah and Simon, Rita, “Women as Political Terrorists,” Research in Law, Deviance and Social Control, Volume 4 (1980), pp. 121–130.Google Scholar
Berger, Peter and Cruickshank, Paul, “Meet the New Face of Terror,” The Washington Post (August 12, 2007), p. B4.
Bloom, Mia, Dying to Kill (New York: Columbia University Press, 2005).Google Scholar
Bloom, Mia, “Chechen ‘Black Widow’ Bomber Jailed,” BBC News, August 4, 2004. Available at http://www.news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/europe/3610327.stm.
Cunningham, Karla J., “Cross-Regional Trends in Female Terrorism,” Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, Volume 26 (2003), pp. 171–195.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cutter, Ana, “Tamil Tigresses, Hindu Martyrs.” Available at http://www.columbia.edu/cu/sipa/PUBS/SLANT/SPRING98/article5.html.
Cutter, Ana, “Failed Chechen Suicide Bomber Sentenced to 20 Years in Prison,” Mosnews.com, August 4, 2004. Available at http://www.mosnews.com.
Cutter, Ana“French Newsmagazine Details Tiger Atrocities.” Available at http://www.priu.gov/lk/news_update/Current_Affairs/ca200004/ 20000419LTTE_atrocities… (April 19, 2000).
Gavin, Deborah, “The Female Terrorist: A Socio-Psychological Perspective,” Behavioral Sciences and the Law, Volume 1 (1983), pp. 19–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Groskop, Viv, “Chechnya's Deadly ‘Black Widows’,” New Statesman, Volume 133, Issue 4704 (September 6, 2004).Google Scholar
Hasan, Khalid, “Aafia Siddiqui Bought Diamonds for Qaeda,” Daily Times (September 8, 2004). Available at http://www.dailytimes.com.
Isikoff, Michael and Hosenball, Mark, “Tangled Ties,” Newsweek (April 7, 2003). Available at http://www.msnbc.com/msn/com/id/4687305.
Israeli, Raphael, “Palestinian Women: The Quest for a Voice in the Public Square Through ‘Islamikaze Martyrdom’,” Terrorism and Political Violence, Volume 16, Number 1 (Spring 2004), pp. 66–96.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MacDonald, Eileen, Shoot the Women First (New York: Random House, 1991).Google Scholar
Manoharan, N., “Tigresses of Lanka: From Girls to Guerillas,” Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies, available at http://www.ipcs.org (March 31, 2003).
,MEMRI, Inquiry and Analysis Series No. 83 (Feb. 12, 2002).
Myers, Steven Lee, “Chechen Women's Role in New Attacks a Disturbing Sign of What War Has Done,” The New York Times, September 12, 2004.
Neuberger, Luisela de Catado and Valentine, Tiziana, Women and Terrorism (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1966).Google Scholar
Ozment, Katherine, “Who's Afraid of Aafia Siddiqui?” Boston Magazine (October 2004). Available at http://www.bostonmagazine.com, Archives.
Ozment, Katherine, “Spain Hails ‘ETA Leaders’ Arrest” October 4, 2004. Available at http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/Europe/10/04/france.spain.eta.
Stahl, Julia, “Palestinians Using More Children, Women for Terrorism,” January 6, 2005. Available at http://www.cnsnews.com.
Stern, Jessica, Terror in the Name of God (New York: ECCO Harper Collins, 2003).Google Scholar
Stroggins, Deborah, “The Most Wanted Woman in the World,” Vogue (March 2005).
Stroggins, Deborah, “Terror Alert Spurs Worldwide Hunt” CBS News. May 27, 2004. Available at http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/05/27/terror.
Townshend, Charles, Terrorism (New York: Oxford University Press, 2002), p. 18.Google Scholar
Tsai, Michelle, “How God Rewards a Female Suicide Bomber,” Slate (March 1, 2007).
Tsai, Michelle, “Women of Al Qaeda.” Newsweek (December 12, 2005).

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×