The Significant Roles of Women in Terrorism

The evolution of terrorism has seen women play significant roles. The main reason has been due to the advantages that women terrorists have compared to their male counterparts. However, the best way to unearth this is by understanding the concept of terrorism as a whole. Terrorism is violence who’s course we disagree with but which the proprietors –terrorists- get a powerful, very emotive and convenient label of legitimizing illegal political and religious acts of violence. As such, terrorism is advocated through ideology. Consequently, women are not immune to the ideology and they may equally end up to subscribe to terrorism just as the men do. Additionally, other involuntary methods may be used to get women into terrorism which include being forced by the male gender through abusive means such as intimidation and life threats. The best way to understand the role of women in terrorism is looking at the tactics and strategies used to get women involved. A close examination of the roles that women play in terrorist communities is important.

One of the vital tactics used to get women into terrorism is religious ideologies. This method is used in the sense that women are brainwashed to believe that through involvement in such activities they will be capable of impacting religion. As such, their mentality is switched from doing what is right to what religion the religion subscibes to(Agara 42). It's important to note that most women involved in terrorism and who end up joining are mostly from communities that are terrorist prone. As such, the levels of education and literacy are shallow. Consequently, their knowledge of the Bible or Koran is skewed towards hearsay and not by other sources. The result of this is an individual who wholeheartedly believes in what they are doing and sees no wrong whatsoever. The other tactic used in recruiting women is the promise of marriage. Many women have the intention of getting married and as such will go to any extent to get a suitor. They end up getting married to a terrorist without knowing. As a consequence, they are forced to take part in terrorist activities for the sake of their family, for instance children. Either of these two tactics gets women to play a role in terrorism.

Women play a strategic role in that they can carry out a similar terrorist activity but command more media and international attention than the male figures. This is strategic in the sense that the media attention attracted works to the advantage of the terrorist in various ways. One it can strengthen a specific terrorist group about another. The other reason is the ideology that women cannot be cannot be involved in active battle is demystified, and more women are thrilled and get attracted. Given that most of this communities have their women marginalized then terrorism provides an avenue for them to be able to stand out and create an impact. Women also thrive from the fact that security apparatuses are not as strict on them as they are with men. As such a way is provided for weapons and other terrorism enablers to be smuggled to and from them (Huey et al. 89). The result eventually is a successful terrorist activity.

The above roles played by women can be countered in some ways. The first method is by enabling women through education and other programs that can provide them with a second opinion of what they have been taught through hearsay. This can be done by developing infrastructure such as schools in those areas and getting people who are neutral to impart the knowledge. The other method is by use of broadcasting channels that can be funded to teach the correct notion of the bible or the Koran to guide against radicalized messages. The institution of marriage should also be discussed in the sense that it's not the only means to a happy life. Getting women especially the young ones to understand that marriage can be a cause of lifetime trouble is essential. Additionally, seeking a second opinion before making a decision is important as it provides an avenue to reflect on what one is about to do. Security systems should learn from previous outcomes that in this era, both men and women terrorist are equally dangerous. Measures need to be taken to do thorough searches on what they carry or if they have been accused, equal energy and resources should be assigned to bring them to justice or at least stop them. Another mechanism that can work for countries where there are restrictions regarding the male and female gender relationship can be an increase in female security officers who will be able to carry out similar activities about their gender (Huey et al. 89). The consequence of this measures will be a reduction in female terrorists and overly sealing loopholes that have been utilized for a long time to commit atrocities.

In conclusion, the roles played by women in terrorism are both tactical and strategic. The tactic of religion being manipulated to make them believe that by taking part in terrorism one is on the right side and will eventually ripe benefits is wrong. The other role is carrying weapons as a strategic way for the male counterparts to succeed in doing a terrorist activity. However, all this can be countered by increasing the availability of knowledge impacting mechanisms as well as the security departments realizing that women are equally terrorists just as men.