7. Women in State-Building Jihadi Organizations: Public Goods and Service Provision

The proper delivery of public goods and services is a vital requirement for the effective functioning of any state. As state-building jihadi organizations have morphed from being simply militant groups into entities in control of fully functioning states, delivering public goods and services to the population is of central importance. Jihadi groups claimed to fill the gap in public service provision left by the fragile government they replaced. These services were delivered in an inclusive way so both male and female citizens would benefit. As jihadi organizations practice conservative interpretations of Islamic jurisprudence, assisting women with their required public services was challenging. To overcome this challenge, they established gender-segregated parallel institutions. Through these institutions, jihadi organizations were able to expand their provision of public goods and services to the female section of the population. Most state institutions, including schools, universities, hospitals, financial agencies, and other service providers, were gender segregated. A section of these institutions was run by women in order to provide services relevant to women’s needs. As explained, this mechanism ultimately helped state-building jihadi organizations to achieve their objective of governing a functioning state.