“It’s hard to imagine a group like ISIS talking about women’s rights, but this was the language they used to draw some women into the group.”
Dr. Joana Cook is a Senior Research Fellow at the International Center for the Study of Radicalisation (ICSR) at King’s College London. Dr. Cook holds a PhD from the Department of War Studies, which examined women in relation to post-9/11 international U.S. counterterrorism responses. Her research focuses on women in violent extremism, countering violent extremism, and counter-terrorism practices.
In this talk, Dr. Cook explores the ways in which ISIS recruited foreign female fighters using women’s rights, and how this demonstrates a need for gender analysis in how we make security decisions. She emphasizes the need to recognize women as actors in terrorist groups and that we must engage and support women in all aspects of security.
