2. The Portrayal of Women in Jihadi Organizations

The dominant approaches in studying women’s association with jihadism generally describe women as victims of the masculine violence committed by jihadi groups. These studies depict a passive image of women in which they cower to the masculine command of such organizations. This approach in turn leaves less room to study a further important group of women who are incorporated into jihadi groups by the organization’s conscious decision. At the same time, the current typologies of jihadi organizations mostly deal with the macro level structure of these groups, including differences in their ideologies and their external supporters. These typologies are antiquated and therefore do not elucidate the reasons for the growing trend in women’s incorporation into these establishments in both numbers and roles. By developing a new typology for jihadi organizations and categorizing them as operation-based and state-building, this chapter provides a platform for comparing different jihadi organizations in terms of their approach toward the incorporation of women. The typology offered in this chapter also makes it possible for researchers to study how the approaches of jihadi organizations toward women evolve with time and for what reasons.