WATCH ABOVE: There’s more insight into the recruiters luring young people to join ISIS, including young Canadian women. Vassy Kapelos reports.
The study’s authors combed through an extensive database of female foreign fighters, one they say is the largest database of Western females joining the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
“There is a significant amount of diversity within the profiles of women becoming radicalised and migrating to ISIS territory,” they wrote.
The authors say it’s incorrect and reductionist to argue all female ISIS recruits are ‘jihadi brides’ – women who join the Islamic State solely to marry ISIS fighters.
“The responsibility of Western women under ISIS-controlled territory is first and foremost to be a good wife to the jihadist husband they are betrothed to and to become a mother to the next generation of jihadism,” they wrote. “However, these women are also playing crucial roles in propaganda dissemination and recruitment of other women through online platforms, both directly and indirectly.”
The findings don’t come as a surprise to foreign fighters researcher Amarnath Amarasingam, who says some younger recruits are being lured, but “a good chunk of the women are 18-26 year or older… they’re making a very active decision.”
“I’m amused at how we always separate the men and the women…I think that says more about our own biases and our own ideas of what they should be doing, what women are all about as opposed to what these women are doing,” he said.
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According to the British study, that shows there is a need for counter-narratives and counter-extremism messaging specifically targeted at females.
“Currently there are very few initiatives that consider the gender dynamics within the CVE and counterterrorism sectors,” the study’s authors wrote.
“Targeted messaging to counter the appeal of violent extremist propaganda needs to be up-scaled.”
Canadian counter-radicalization efforts have been under a microscope for nearly a year, after it was revealed up to 130 Canadians have traveled abroad to join ISIS.
The federal government introduced Bill C-51, new counter-terrorism legislation it says will help counter radicalization, but critics have called the Conservatives’ approach heavy-handed and say it could backfire.
READ MORE: Federal funds could hurt ‘credibility’ of counter-radicalization efforts: Kenney
Josée Sirois, a spokesperson with Public Safety Canada, says the government is taking women into account in its efforts to address radicalization.
“In many communities, mothers and grandmothers exert a great deal of influence, both within families and within larger social groupings,” Sirois, said in an email.
“Government of Canada programming is cognizant of this fact, and is working to include women in all of its initiatives to ensure that women’s voices are heard, and that female leaders are identified and advanced.”
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