Women have always been involved in terrorist organizations. However only in recent years, female terrorism is considered as a separate phenomenon, an earlier participation of women in an activity of terrorist structures was an exception, but not the rule. Women participated in all aspects of the activities of the terrorist organizations, but for a long time was not noted their mass involvement in two activities - work with informants and suicide attacks. In the early 21st century, the situation changed: the terrorist organizations more and more often involve women suicide. All terrorist organizations in Europe and America use women during military actions. The number of women is extremely big in structures as the “Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam” Sri Lanka, ETA Spain, and “United Liberation Front of Assam” in India, The Real IRA, FARC, Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia and ISIS.
What motivates female terrorism? Perhaps religious bigotry, driven to extreme limits. The killing of people is the greatest sin in any religion but the leaders of extremist Islamic organizations proclaimed it a holy action. The religious, patriotic, nationalist rhetoric completely displaces human morals and common sense from the consciousness of future suicide bombers. They are strengthened in their belief in the afterlife (Cragin & Daly, 59). In addition to religious motivation, the large sum of money is usually paid to a family of the suicide terrorist, and her name becomes sacred. This action raises the status and prestige of the family of female suicide terrorists. Female terrorists have always enjoyed increased media attention and of great interest to the media audience. It allows propagandizing the organization's purposes and ideology more successfully. Moreover, the preparation of such attacks is much simpler the female suicide should not be trained in military science and methods of conspiracy. Actually, she acts as the disposable and cheap weapon.
The desire of women to participate in terrorist activities in modern conditions can be some kind of protest against the existing social reality, the place and role of women in society. The inability to participate fully in the conventional forms of political activity pushes women to terrorism. Women have no influence, and their role in life is not noticeable. Rejection of usual model of female destiny specifies to the terrorist a way to finding of a sense of existence. Through her own dissatisfaction, female terrorists strive for new identity. They find this identity in the terrorist organizations. For many of them, terror becomes a universal method of self-affirmation. Therefore, women, as a rule, are deeply convinced of the need and justification for terrorist attacks (Martin, 6).
However, many terrorism experts believe that in most cases women are least of all interested in political and ideological ideas those terrorist organizations usually proclaim. Women struggle and often perish not “in the name”, “against” or “for” something: they struggle against the low status of the woman in their families and societies, against the authorities, which caused a personal insult or committed a crime against their family, for a loved one etc. It is remarkable that women tend to have a keener sense of injustice; they had better know the history and the cause of the conflict, in which their terrorist organization is participating.
Thus, the female terrorist problem reveals a considerable amount of social, political, psychological, religious, ethnic and other problems, based on which the phenomenon of mass involvement of women in terrorist activities can exist.
Works Cited
Cragin, Kim and Sara A. Daly. Women as Terrorists: Mothers, Recruiters, and Martyrs.
Martin, Melissa. Women’s participation in terrorism, conflict and violent extremism: Gender
equality or pure pragmatism? The University of Nottingham. N.d. Web. Accessed 15 Feb 2016 at <https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/hrlc/documents/student-conference-2014/m-martin-ms-nottinghamstudentconference.pdf>
