This article is published in Counter Terrorist Trends and Analyses, a Journal of the International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research. This issue explores the diverse, multifaceted, and fractious landscape of terrorism that is characterised by inter and intra-group rivalries and various forms of cooperation across geographical, ideological, and gender lines/boundaries.
In this article, Amalina Abdul Nasir discusses the transition of women’s roles from Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) to Daesh, and highlights cyberspace as the key variable that has facilitated increased recruitment for women by Daesh. The article finds that online recruitment and interactions have reduced the barriers to Indonesian and Malaysian women’s participation in terrorism. In particular, social media has allowed women to independently build networks and plan attacks. The article ultimately suggests that these developments must be addressed by counter-terrorism and preventing/countering violent extremism (CT/PCVE) efforts by integrating gender-sensitive approaches into the design and implementation of CT/PCVE policies.