Female Terrorists in ISIS, al Qaeda and 21st Century Terrorism

Terrorism is a male dominated field. Women’s participation in terrorist groups varies from being completely blocked from participation to thirty-percent of membership in some groups.[1] Even when women do manage to break in, they are often limited in the roles they are allowed to carry out and they rarely gain entry to leadership positions. In terrorist groups the men are generally in charge and terrorism is a man’s game. This paper examines the roles of women in ISIS, al Qaeda and other 21rst century terrorist groups.