This research is based on fieldwork with Muslim communities in five countries – Canada, the UK, Germany, France and The Netherlands – challenges the underlying assumptions of PCVE approaches in the West that prioritise women’s engagement and empowerment, and suggests that some aspects of women’s PCVE projects may instead exacerbate existing community tensions, and do not reflect the changing norms of Muslim communities in the West. Particularly the research questions the emphasis of women’s roles as mothers in much PCVE work. Alternative modes of engagement could improve the efficacy of PCVE and enable it to better appeal to those it is intended to help. For example it suggested working with ‘mothers and fathers’ within PCVE. It also recommended working on women’s empowerment as identified by the needs and demands of women within communities of need - rather than based on prior assumptions about gender relations.