Why Women from the West are Joining ISIS

Abstract

AbstractMore than 550 Western women have moved to Syria and Iraq to join the “Islamic State of Iraq and Syria” (ISIS), showing a success of ISIS in attracting women from the West that no other jihadist group had before. To explain the reasons for such success, it is important to understand how ISIS lures women from the West, why ISIS persuasion tools are so successful, what motivates women to join such a notorious terrorist group, famous for its brutal violence, mistreatment and enslavement of women and what role women expected to play in the “Islamic State.” Understanding the motives why ISIS Western female migrants left their Western countries of residence and moved to ISIS-controlled territories is crucial to find appropriate measures to prevent and stop the radicalization of women, to cut the support that ISIS receives from its female sympathizers, to properly treat female returnees and to prepare appropriate measures against women ready to plot against their countries of residence in the name of ISIS goals.