NAN – Western women joining Islamic State are from comfortable backgrounds, well educated with romantic notions of adventure often quickly dispelled by the harshness of life as a “Jihadi bride.”
The Institute for Strategic Dialogue and the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation at King’s College, London, disclosed this on Thursday, May 27, 2015.
A British research report said, “The female recruits were increasingly younger, some from comfortable backgrounds and often well-educated, and were playing “crucial” propaganda and recruitment roles.
It said 550 women from Western countries have left their homelands to join Islamic State, which has captured swathes of Syria and Iraq.
It said very little was being done to explain why there had been such unprecedented surge to Islamic State, also known as ISIS, or to take preventative action.
The report said social media activity revealed that more than 100 Western women, who are thought to have joined the militants, said there had many differing reasons for joining.
“The assumption that females join ISIS primarily to become ‘jihadi brides’ is reductionist and above all, incorrect.
“Like Western men who have joined ISIS, the women felt socially and culturally isolated, believed Muslims were being persecuted and were angry that nothing was being done about it.
“They were also attracted by an idealistic view of religious duty, a sense of sisterhood, and the romance of the adventure,’’ it said.
It said full investigation revealed that the life under ISIS was far from the image they saw portrayed online.
It said conditions were harsh and some became widows at a young age.
“The responsibility of Western women under ISIS-controlled territory is first and foremost to be a good wife to the jihadist husband they are betrothed to and to become a mother to the next generation of jihadism.
“However, there are also insights into the complaints of daily life for females, often domestically isolated in severe conditions, and the realities of living within a war zone in a terrorist-led territory,’’ it said.
The report concluded that there was a need for ‘counter-extremist’ messages to be aimed specifically at women.
It said messages must detailed how life under ISIS was far removed from the idealised view, and better programmes for those returning from Syria and Iraq to counter radical ideology and reintegrate.
