The jihad feminist dynamics of terrorism and subordination of women in the ISIs

Abstract

The increasing embeddedness of the jihad feminist within the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) operations is eliciting works on the role of women in terrorism. However, there is yet to be a more constructive analysis that adequately accounts on the interface between Jihad feminism and Female Subjugation within the operations of the ISIS. This paper is among the first attempts to draw on the Jihad Feminism Theory (JFT) to develop a conceptual discourse that explains the relationship between jihad feminist fighters and promotion of patriarchal practices and beliefs within the ISIS group. Far from standing against any forms of Western feminization, as espoused by jihad feminists, the paper argues that jihad feminism has further subverted Muslim women to sedentary roles within the ISIS as a way of sustaining the organisations’ operations and existence. This is a qualitative paper that relies on a desktop analysis of secondary sources of data.