Are women still the great unknown in terrorism? Or just fellow travelers?

10 März 2022

The answer to this question is simply: No. Because today it should be clear that terrorism is not and never was a purely male affair. This persistent stereotypical view of the role of women in terrorism is contradicted by Eva Herschinger's latest contribution on the subject of gender and terrorism, published in the large-format and richly illustrated volume "Terrorism in the 21st Century" by the Federal Agency for Civic Education. Using examples from different types of terrorism and looking at motives, tasks, recruitment/propaganda/mobilization and strategic use, Eva Herschinger makes it clear that women have long since ceased to play an unknown and, above all, invisible role in terrorism.

In a second text, Eva Herschinger portrays Samantha Lewthwaite, currently one of the most wanted female terrorists and a suspected member of the terrorist group al-Shabaab operating in East Africa. The changing life of the British woman shows, as if under a burning glass, the different roles that women can play in terrorist groups today.

The contemporary picture edited by Jana Kärgel "Terrorism in the 21st Century - Perspectives. Controversies. Blind Spots" can be obtained here from the Federal Agency for Civic Education.