WHAT ABOUT THE WOMEN? Understanding and Addressing the Problem of ISIS Female Recruitment in the Western Balkans
WHAT ABOUT THE WOMEN? Understanding and Addressing the Problem of ISIS Female Recruitment in the Western Balkans

Author(s): Eric Mietz
Subject(s): Social Sciences, Gender Studies, Sociology, Studies in violence and power, Migration Studies
Published by: BCBP Beogradski centar za bezbednosnu politiku
Keywords: Islamic State; female migration from Western Balkans;
Summary/Abstract: This policy paper aims to bring attention to an oft-neglected security problem in the Western Balkans: women being recruited by—and migrating to—the Islamic State. In many ways, female recruits, both from the Western Balkans and other regions, are attracted to the Islamic State for the exact same reasons as men, yet the roles of women in the Islamic State and the messaging the group uses to lure women to migrate to Syria and Iraq are sufficiently different to warrant a gender-based perspective in countering violent extremism (CVE) policymaking. The Islamic State and ways to defeat it dominate current media headlines and policy discussions, but as propaganda continues to attract women, strategies to topple the Islamic State will require equal attention to both male and female recruits in order to be successful. The first part of the paper looks at the numbers of women leaving from the Western Balkans to Islamic State-held territory, the profiles of women who migrate, and the roles they take on in the Islamic State. To explain why women are influenced to migrate, the second part examines the “push” and “pull” factors of Islamic State recruitment. The last part focuses on the efforts of Western Balkans governments to criminalize participation in or support of the Islamic State and the disadvantages of relying solely on this policy.

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