Women, Gender, and Terrorism

In the last decade the world has witnessed a rise in women’s participation in terrorism. Women, Gender, and Terrorismexplores women’s relationship with terrorism, with a keen eye on the political, gender, racial, and cultural dynamics of the contemporary world. Throughout most of the twentieth century, it was rare to hear about women terrorists. In the new millennium, however, women have increas ingly taken active roles in carrying out suicide bombings, hijacking air planes, and taking hostages in such places as Palestine, Iraq, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Lebanon, and Chechnya. These women terrorists have been the subject of a substantial amount of media and scholarly attention, but the analysis of women, gender, and terrorism has been sparse and riddled with stereotypical thinking about women’s capabilities and motivations. In the first section of this volume, contributors offer an overview of women’s participation in and relationships with contemporary terrorism, and a historical chapter traces their involvement in the politics and conflicts of Islamic societies. The next section includes empirical and theoretical analysis of terrorist movements in Chechnya, Kashmir, Palestine, and Sri Lanka. The third section turns to women’s involvement in al Qaeda and includes critical interrogations of the gendered media and the scholarly presentations of those women. The conclusion offers ways to further explore the subject of gender and terrorism based on the contributions made to the volume. Contributors to Women, Gender, and Terrorismexpand our understanding of terrorism, one of the most troubling and complicated facets of the modern world.

Laura Sjoberg is an assistant professor of political science at the University of Florida. She is the editor or author of numerous books including Gender, Justice, mid the Wars in Iraq: A Feminist Reformulation of Just War Theory. Caron E. Gentry is a lecturer in the School of International Relations at the University of St. Andrews. Together they coauthored Mothers, Monsters, Whores: Women's Violence in Global Politics.