WUNRN
http://www.rferl.org/content/islamic-state-women-recruits-personal-connection/26945540.html
WOMEN JOINING IS/ISLAMIC STATE USUALLY HAVE PERSONAL CONNECTION
Western
women who have traveled to IS-controlled lands and who have married militants
there offer advice to potential "jihadi brides" via social media,
while Russian-speaking women in IS issued a call for other "sisters"
to come and join them in Syria.
8 April 2015 - Over the past weeks and months, there have
been a spate of news reports about young women -- including from Western Europe
and Australia -- who have traveled to Syria to join the Islamic State (IS)
militant group.
This week, a 15-year-old South African schoolgirl
believed to be traveling to join IS was prevented from taking a flight from Cape Town.
British teenagers Kadiza Sultana, 16, Shamima Begum, and
Amira Abase, both 15, crossed into Syria after boarding a flight from London to
Istanbul on February17, prompting questions about how three seemingly ordinary
London schoolgirls had been radicalized and recruited to IS.
Western women who have traveled to IS-controlled lands
and who have married militants there offer advice to potential "jihadi brides" via
social media, while Russian-speaking women in IS issued a call for other "sisters" to come and join them in
Syria.
But who are the women and girls joining IS, and what is
the militant group's allure for young women -- even teenagers?
Joana Cook, a PhD candidate in the Department of War
Studies at King's College London and a research affiliate with the Canadian
Network for Research on Terrorism, Security and Society (TSAS), focuses on
women in security practices, extremism, terrorism and counterterrorism. Cook
tells RFE/RL that many of the women who travel to Syria have a personal
connection with an existing IS member, and that they tend to be slightly
younger than the men who join IS.
"I would suggest that, most commonly, we are seeing
girls and women go via a preexisting relationship. That is, many will either
already have a personal connection with an individual already there (the three
British schoolgirls who went [to Syria] had a classmate there), or will have
been 'groomed' or 'recruited' by an individual before going to Syria,"
Cook says.
Those involved in grooming young women to join IS could
be "a potential or current husband, or an 'older sister figure' who draws
them abroad," Cook adds.
RFE/RL: A report this week by the Human Security Center
estimates that around 10 percent of foreign recruits to IS are now women or
girls. Do you think the figure of 10 percent is a reasonable estimate?
Cook: This number
has been stated to be as high as 18 percent. The 10 percent figure was from
October 2014 and is likely out of date.
RFE/RL: Why has IS stepped up its recruitment of women
and girls?
Cook: There are a
number of reasons. [Women and terrorism expert] Mia Bloom talks about
"recruit, reward, retain." For fighters, having a bride at the ready
offers a [recruitment] incentive to come and fight for IS. These women can also
act as a "reward" for battlefield victories and converts, and
Westerners have been stated to have higher "value" in this sense.
"Retain" refers to the idea that once these men and women are
married, which is often immediately upon arrival, they have kids and are less
likely to try and escape or leave the group.
Increasing numbers of women also offers more sources of
financing and of people to share and promote IS propaganda. Women also aid in
further recruitment and add extra bodies to help with logistics and support,
such as housing or transporting individuals en route to Syria. It helps
perpetuate the vision of a "state," with families and roles for women
(albeit limited to things like teaching, health, and the domestic sphere). This
helps perpetuate the narrative that IS are a "legitimate" state and
have the ability to transcend being just a terrorist organization to a
governing body.
RFE/RL: What attracts women from Western Europe and North
America, including teenage girls, to make the drastic step of leaving their
homes to join IS? Is there a specific profile of the type of Western women who
are attracted to IS (e.g. do they tend to be younger, more religious, etc)?
Cook: Each woman or
girl will have a unique story and motivation for wanting to go, and each will
have a unique opening which draws them to travel abroad. While many were
initially drawn for humanitarian reasons and going to assist civilians in Syria
affected by the war, more recently there have been three primary motivations: a
sense of religious duty, participation in building a new state, and personal
motivations such as a sense of adventure, discrimination at home, and so on.
While it is not as common, some may be attracted by the violence (even if they
are not allowed violent roles) or IS's radical interpretation of Islam. These
are all generally the same motivations that draw men.
Lone-wolf actors who have carried out action on behalf of
[IS] in their home countries, even if they don't have a formal connection to
the group, have tended to have higher levels of mental-health issues as well. I
have not yet seen any information on this in specific relation to women
travelling abroad, though I believe this would be an interesting angle to
explore further.
RFE/RL: How does IS target women and girls in Western
Europe and North America -- for example, does it reach out to them directly or
via pro-IS groups on social media?
Cook: Social media
has been one of IS's strongest tools, as it has provided direct access to
individuals via Twitter, Facebook, etc. It has never been easier to reach out
to somebody who is already there (as compared to Al-Qaeda, where access to the
group was extremely closed). This reaching out is both decentralized and
centralized -- decentralized in that it is often individuals who reach out to
other individuals, and centralized in that IS also, as a group, directs women
to come to Syria. In it's publication Dabiq, for example, IS has also reached
out with messages to women. In its latest issue, IS says that "hijra
["immigration"] is an obligation upon women just as it is to
men."
RFE/RL: What happens to women and girls who join IS? Are
they "married off" to militants or are they allowed to work?
Cook: There are
some positions for which women have been utilized, such as health and teaching,
but they are largely restricted to the domestic sphere, focusing on raising the
next generation of soldiers and supporting their husbands. There was the
Al-Khansaa Brigade, an all female police force in Raqqa, though this was a
small and rare example.
Frankly though, women can be lured abroad by the idea of
marrying a "jihadi" husband, and end up being forced to marry
somebody they didn't intend to. They are often immediately married off and
encouraged to have kids. They may also be exposed to sexual violence and
incredibly strict and conservative interpretations of how they should conduct
themselves while there.
A November 2014 report by the UN on life under [IS]
presents as comprehensive a picture as any. Women under [IS] rule have been
shot, stoned, and beheaded. Women have been brutally punished by lashing for
not adhering to IS's interpretation of dress. While such events may be more
likely to be applied to religious minorities or locals, these are still
possible for any woman who lives under IS rule.
RFE/RL: What steps need to be taken in the United Kingdom
to avoid more young women like the three British schoolgirls traveling to join
IS?
Cook: Preventing
individuals from traveling to join IS is a major priority. There has appeared
to be increased cooperation between British and Turkish authorities to quell
this, as seen with recent examples of the group of nine people from Rochdale or three schoolboys from East London. This is positive
in preventing individuals from going [to Syria], but I do not believe this
addresses root causes or motivations for going abroad.
There have been some brilliant examples of women-led,
grassroots and nongovernmental organizations -- such as [the British NGO] Inspire -- who are leading online campaigns and
community engagement to empower women to get involved in countering violent
extremism, and are reaching out to young women who may be interested in
traveling abroad. Organizations like this appear more organic than government-led
initiatives, understand the communities at risk best, and generally have a
higher stake in their communities (ex. for every story about extremism that
appears on the news, they feel it distinctly in their community). Organizations
like the Institute for Strategic Dialogue also do great work in this field and
have worked with the mothers of extremists who have gone abroad, such as Christianne Boudreau in Canada, to tell the stories
of those who have been "left behind" when family members engage in
extremism.
There are many other men and women across the world
engaging in similar awareness campaigns. While these are not a sole solution in
and of themselves, they are certainly important ones.
-- Joanna Paraszczuk