International Annals of Criminology (2018), 56, 32–42

doi:10.1017/cri.2018.19

ARTICLE

Why Women from the West are Joining ISIS1

Anita Perešin*
Office of the National Security Council, Croatia
*Corresponding Author: Anita Perešin, Office of the National Security Council, Croatia.
E-mail: aperesin@gmail.com

(Submitted 15 March 2017; revised 1 September 2017; accepted 28 November 2017)

Abstract
More 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.

Keywords ISIS; Islamic State; Caliphate; ISIS Western women; Muhajirat

INTRODUCTION
When the self-proclaimed Caliph and leader of the “Islamic State of Iraq and Syria”
(ISIS) Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi announced, in June 2014, the establishment of a
“Caliphate” (Al-‘Adnani al-Shami 2014), stretching from Iraq’s Daya province to
Syria’s Aleppo, his appeal to all Muslims to fulfill their religious duty and to make
hijra – a religious-type migration from lands inhabited by infidels to Muslim lands –
has been highly recognized around the world, including in the West. In the following
months, thousands of people of different ages, but mostly youngsters from different
Western countries, left their countries of residence and moved to Syria and Iraq to
start a new life under ISIS’s governance.
Even though their number has not been officially confirmed, it has been estimated
that more than 5,000 men and at least 550 women (Hoyle, Bradford, and Frenett
2015:8) have moved to join the so-called “Caliphate.” They represent the highest
migrant community who have ever left their countries of residence to join a jihadi
1
The views expressed in this paper are those of the author and do not reflect the views of the institution
in which the author is employed.

© 2018 International Society of Criminology.

 International Annals of Criminology 33

group. The motives of the decision and the expectations of the benefits of life under
ISIS’s rule of women from the West are hardly understandable.
The aim of this article is to present what we know so far about Western women
joining ISIS, who they are and why they choose to migrate and become part of the
“Islamic State.” The question is: how do women who had grown up and were
educated in Western societies fit in with the type of life offered by the most brutal
terrorist group, that includes living in war zones with daily public executions,
beheadings and tortures in public places, as well as outspreading sexual violence,
abuse, humiliation and slavery of women in the territory under its control?
Another question is how much is ISIS’s propaganda effective in luring women
from the West, what it offers to them and what Western women of ISIS recognize as
superior in the “Caliphate” in comparison with the West? What makes them ready to
support the group’s activities in the territory controlled by ISIS and in their Western
countries of residence?

WHO ARE THE WESTERN WOMEN OF ISIS?

In treating women, ISIS has a dual attitude. Women it considers heretics are treated as
slaves, whose main role is to be commodities that can be traded and given away
as rewards to jihadist fighters. This type of slavery is formally approved by ISIS lea-
dership, as it is described in the pamphlet titled “Questions and Answers on Taking
Captives and Slaves” printed by ISIS’s publishing house Al-Himma Library (2014; also
see Smith 2014). This pamphlet clarifies ISIS’s interpretation of the position of Islamic
law on possessing, treating, punishing and treading non-Muslim female slaves. It jus-
tifies a treatment of women that is outrageous and unacceptable in the modern world.
On the other hand, ISIS recognizes the Muslim women who migrated to its
territory as essential key players for building the so-called “Caliphate.” The goal of
ISIS was to establish a new state with a permanent society and for that they needed
not only fighters but citizens to ensure its functionality and longevity. Al-Baghdadi in
his inaugural speech called on all Muslims from around the world to move to the
“Caliphate” to help build its infrastructure and society. A growing number of Muslim
women and converts heed that call and voluntarily make hijra. To identify them-
selves, these women extensively use the term muhajirah,2 to express the religious
nature of their movement to the “Caliphate.”
The exact number of women from the West in ISIS is uncertain, but they are
believed to represent about 10–15% of the number of Westerners who have migrated
to join ISIS. Many Western countries do not have official data on the number of their
female residents who have joined ISIS, mainly due to the lack of confirmation if
they joined ISIS or other militant groups in the territory of Syria and Iraq. This is
often unclear with women who accompanied their husbands who moved to become
foreign fighters for different militant groups.
It is also impossible to create profiles of women from the West who made hijra
based on age, level of education, family background, social or financial status and
ethnical or political affiliation. They are mainly aged between 16 and 24 years, with

2
Muhajirah (singular) is a direct Quranic name and has the original meaning of “one who avoids or
abandons bad things.” Later it was extended to mean “migrant” and it consequently identifies migrants
moving from a problematic place to a better one, for the sake of Allah.
34 Anita Perešin

women of other ages included, and with the youngest believed to be a 13-year-old girl
from Germany (Sherwood et al. 2014).
Many women traveled either with their families in support to their jihadi
husbands who had decided to join ISIS as foreign fighters, or as newlyweds with
husbands they had found on the Internet, to avoid traveling unaccompanied and
arriving in ISIS-controlled territory unmarried. Others traveled with relatives, with a
group of female friends, only with children or alone. Some cases show three-
generation families moving together, like a family of 12 of Bangladeshi heritage from
Great Britain, ranging from small grandchildren to grandparents, who are believed to
have gone to Syria (Dodd and Khomami 2015).
In most cases, they are descendants of Muslim immigrants, but there is also a
significant number of converts. For women and girls who moved alone, family
support differs from cases in which girls were encouraged to move by family
members or close relatives3 (Calderwood 2015) to others in which families were
disappointed and shocked by their decision4 (Petrou 2015).
The motivation of women also varies, making the understanding of their aims and
expectations of life in the “Caliphate” very difficult.

PUSH AND PULL MOTIVATING FACTORS

The motivations of women joining ISIS do not necessarily differ from the motivations
of men making the same decision and can vary from one person to another. There are
a number of push and pull factors that lead women to join ISIS. There are, among
them, three main groups of political, ideological (including religious) and personal
motivations. According to Saltman and Smith (2015), the major push factors are often
similar, if not the same, to those of their male counterparts: a misconception that the
Muslim community is persecuted worldwide; anger and frustration over international
inaction; social and cultural isolation and consequent identity crisis.
Like for many men, the oppression of Muslims is one of the main motivations, to join
the jihad in Syria, that women publish on their social media accounts. Due to the
perceived inactivity of the international community in protecting Muslims, women often
present as their ideological and religious duty to support the fight against the Assad
regime and to relieve suffering Syrians. Strongly adhering to the idea of the afterlife, some
women see participation in jihad as a way to secure their place in Jannah (Paradise).
Descendants of Muslim immigrants in Europe often expressed their frustration with
their status in the West and their discomfort with the traditional Muslim heritage of
their families and with Western culture. Faced with an identity crisis, they looked for a
sense of belonging and recognized the newly proclaimed Muslim “Caliphate” as an
ideal place for a fresh start. As Aqsa Mahmood, one of the most prominent ISIS online
recruiters, stated: “I feel like I have no direction in life anymore. It’s funny how things
work out, once upon a time I used to be such a career obsessed girl. Now I have no clue.
I just want another fresh start and to do it right this time.” (Bradford 2015)

3
Teenage twins Zahra and Salma Halane from Manchester, who fled Britain to join ISIS, tried to recruit
their younger siblings after arriving in Syria. They sent threatening messages to their family, swearing
hatred for “the infidels” and encouraging them to join ISIS.
4
The father of Aqsa Mahmoud, one of the well-known ISIS online recruiters, described his daughter as
“the best daughter you could have. We just don’t know what happened to her.”
 International Annals of Criminology 35

Other personal reasons that lead women to move to the “Caliphate” are dissatisfaction
or disappointment with different aspects of their lives, boredom, desire for adventure and
alternatives to their current life, adolescent rebellion, troubling family relationships and
traumatic experiences, sexual abuse or honor-related violence, etc.
Main pull factors were: idealistic goals of religious duty to help build a utopian
Muslim “Caliphate”; new life that offers a sense of belonging and sisterhood;
romantic and adventurous experience of life in Syria (Saltman and Smith 2015).
Al-Baghdadi’s call upon all Muslims to help create the new Muslim “Caliphate”
motivated many women who wanted to take part in the state-building process and
who expected to be given an important role in creating the new ideologically pure
state, in contrast with the imperfections of the infidel Western society.
The theological significance of the proclamation of the “Caliphate” and the possibility of
contributing to the creation of a new better society were recognized as strong motivational
factors for women to make hijra. In that society, they expected to live in a properly
authentic Islamic state in which the Islamic law, sharia, is fully implemented.
Behind this motivational factor was the willingness of some women to achieve
more important roles than being only the wife of a jihadi fighter and the mother of a
“lion of a Caliphate.” Umm Waqas, a Seattle-based Islamic State online recruiter,
tweeted that people “should realize that NO SISTER leaves the comfort of their
homes just to marry a man,” referring to the hashtag “#jihadibrides” (Cottee 2016).
Such expectations often included desire of some women to participate in fighting and
in dying a martyr’s death.

WOMEN-ORIENTED SOCIAL MEDIA CAMPAIGN

To lure Western women, ISIS has introduced a specially designed social media
campaign with the aim of presenting the “Caliphate” as an ideal place for a new
start for all disillusioned Westerners. ISIS, more than any other jihadist group, is
adept at using the plethora of Internet platforms available to reach digitally accessible
audiences, like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Skype, etc. A carefully planned social
media campaign, primarily (but not only) led by those female supporters who have
already joined the group, was not focused only on glorifying ISIS activities and to
promote its ideology and goals, but on talking about individual experiences of life in
the ISIS-controlled territory. By presenting their normal daily activities, such as
cooking, making Nutella pancakes or posting romantic pictures and writing blogs of
normal daily-life activities, ISIS’s female online promoters were offering a picture of
life under ISIS’s rule that was positive and attractive to potential female recruits, with
the aim of encouraging migration to the “Caliphate.”
Their aim was to convince all women who had shown interest in ISIS’s ideology
and goals that living conditions of women in the ISIS-led territory were better than in the
West. “Syria is amazing,” one of ISIS’s male recruiters named Bilel said. “We have
everything here. Masha’Allah, you have to believe me: it’s paradise! A lot of women
fantasize about us; we’re Allah’s warriors” (Erelle 2015). In support of the idea of making
hijra, ISIS’s online promoters provided detailed instructions5 on travel and preparation
5
A blog run by women living in the Islamic State provided an extensive list – “Hijra Checklist” – of items
for women to bring (and not to bring) with them when migrating to the group. The blog recommended
carrying some articles such as “leggings, good undergarments, important medication, electronics (all)”
from the outside because those available in the Islamic State were “not that great in quality.”
36 Anita Perešin

for life in Syria or Iraq, as well as on communications with families back home.
They were also trying to prepare potential female migrants for different roles in ISIS,
for example housewives and facilitators, giving them detailed instructions on
expected behavior and dressing code once they arrived.
Such narratives supported romanticized image of jihad, presented by images of
courageous and brave fighters and modest and honorable wives and mothers.
Numerous online accounts, showing pictures of good-looking macho men adoring
their completely veiled women, with beautiful sunsets, kittens and small children
playing around them, lured many young Muslim women to move to the “Caliphate.”
Possible difficulties on getting used to different social norms and everyday life,
dictated by the Islamic law, and adapting to new living conditions in a warzone were
also announced in advance, but presented as a sacrifice necessary to improve the
chances of entering Jannah.

WHY ISIS NEEDS WOMEN FROM THE WEST

ISIS is not just a terrorist group. It aspired to become a fully functional state and as
any other state it needed women, especially from the West, for many reasons. First, it
needed wives for thousands of Western foreign fighters, to keep them in the ISIS-
controlled territory and to raise their children – a new generation of jihadists.
Women from the West were regarded as better wives for Western foreign fighters
than local women, due to traditional obstacles that domestic women had to marry
foreigners, as well as cultural and linguistic differences among them. Not less
important, the recruitment of women from Western countries was seen as glorifying
ISIS’s ideology and was thought to be a victory over the West.
ISIS did not need just naïve brainwashed would-be “jihadi brides.” It needed
educated, smart and skilled women who were willing to come to help build the
infrastructure of the Islamic state and to occupy professional female positions. It
needed female teachers and doctors if it wanted its women to be taught and treated
only by women, or female police officers to control the civilian population, especially
other women, to check if they behaved in public in accordance with the strict rules of
the Islamic law.
ISIS also needed female online recruiters to recruit other women to join ISIS and
to promote the idealistic living conditions the group offered in the territory under its
control. It needed women to share their own impressions and experience of life in
Syria and Iraq that had to be attractive to would-be female migrants. It also needed
women to motivate men – “our brothers” to join the group6 or to conduct terrorist
attacks in the name of ISIS in their countries of residence.7 Other known examples of
activities of women in ISIS included collecting taxes and donations from abroad.
Women on the battlefields were needed to film military accomplishments of ISIS
fighters for promotional reasons and to support soldiers by cooking or nursing. The
involvement of women in fighting was, at the beginning, considered as not acceptable

6
An alleged American female ISIS recruiter in Syria, Umm Isa al Amirikiah, in her message posted to the
Telegram channel on February 5, 2016, challenged the masculinity of Western Muslim men for their failure
to support jihad: “Stop sitting behind your screens posting couple of dawlah videos… you are not men.
You are an embarrassment for the Ummah.”
7
Umm Isa al Amirikiah has also called on Muslim men in particular to “kill kuffars in the West.”
 International Annals of Criminology 37

but not strictly forbidden. In October 2017, after the significant loss of territory and
male cadres, ISIS officially called on women to take arms and fight.
However, not all women who moved to the “Caliphate” were satisfied with the
roles that ISIS had planned for them or with the living conditions that they had
found in the “Islamic state.”

THE LIFE OF WOMEN FROM THE WEST IN THE “CALIPHATE”

All that we know about the reality of life for Western women comes from social
media posts or rarely from women who succeeded to escape from ISIS-controlled
territory and returned home. Data retrieved through ISIS-controlled social media
accounts primarily served as propaganda which emphasized satisfaction and
amazement with the living conditions, relations with the established “sisterhood” and
the sense of belonging women had found in the “Caliphate.”
However, there were also insights into the complaints about daily life for females,
often domestically isolated in severe conditions and on the realities of living in war
zones. Instead of five-star hotels and other attributes of the promoted “Muslim
Disneyland,” the reality included frequent gunfire, many ruined buildings, spotty
electricity, insufficient medical care, etc.
Once in Syria, women were subject to Islamic law and rules of dress and behavior
that were different from the West. They lost their freedom to leave the house without
the permission of a man or without a male relative’s accompaniment. The dress code
and behavior in public were also very strict and subject to harsh punishment in case
of violations. Instead of schools and universities, ISIS introduced the so-called forums
of young Muslim women, where they were taught in Islamist ideology and selected to
become members of the all-female police brigade or nurses for ISIS fighters. Working
with males was strongly forbidden and punished.
Some women were unhappy with polygamy and refused to enter plural marriages
(Lahoud 2015). Even though separation in the case of men’s death was presented as
honorable for women, whose status would have increased considerably both in the
community and in their chances of entering Jannah, many women found obligatory
remarriages traumatic and unacceptable. It was possible for a woman who became a
widow to return home, but without her children who belonged to the Islamic State.

WOMEN AND VIOLENCE

Considering the threat that the returning women of ISIS could pose to the West, it is
important to assess their attitudes toward violence and their intentions to perpetrate
terrorist activities. The phenomenon of girls and young women making hijra to join
ISIS has been portrayed through gendered stereotypes and explained by labeling
them as “jihadi brides.” In reality, we have documented an active participation of ISIS
women in violence or their active support of it.
There are many posts in the social media in which ISIS women support and
celebrate brutality and violence, even against other women. They justify the mis-
treatment and sexual abuse of Yazidi women and girls, run slave markets and support
and conduct punishments of women who do not abide by the required behavior and
dress code. They also rival the men when it comes to brutality. They call for “more
beheadings,” celebrate executions of hostages and approve crucifixion. Mujahidah
38 Anita Perešin

Bint Usama, a former British medical student, posted a photograph of herself in

nurse uniform, holding up a severed head in her hand. Some women indicate a
personal desire to inflict violence, including executions, like a woman from the
United Kingdom, Khadijah Dare, who declared her desire to become the first woman
to commit an execution of ISIS’s enemies.
The women of ISIS are no longer only supporters of violence but have become
active perpetrators of it. Local sources reported in March 2016 that a 12-year-old girl,
who was under control of the Islamic State, executed five women in Mosul, Iraq
(Clarion Project 2016). This is considered to be the first time that ISIS used a young
girl as executioner.
Contrary to what many photographs of young women posing with or using
Kalashnikovs suggest, Western women, even those of them lured by the possibility of
participating in combat, at the beginning were not allowed to actively take part in
fighting. Such possibility was clearly renounced by ISIS online promoters but not
strictly forbidden. As it is stated in the document in Arabic posted on a jihadist
forum in January 2015, titled “Women in the Islamic State: Manifesto and Case
Studies,” a combat role for ISIS women is possible, but only in the case of extreme
situations of an enemy attack against the country, insufficient number of men or a
fatwa issued by an imam. A different situation is present in Libya, one of the “safe
havens” of ISIS affiliates. A Libyan military council confirmed for the first time
that Islamic State was using women, believed to be Tunisian, in combat roles on
the frontline (Trew 2016). The situation has changed after ISIS continued to lose
territory in Syria and Iraq in the second half of 2017 when women were called on to
take arms and fight.
Women also often expressed online the willingness to become martyrs. In some
women’s own narratives, they were becoming suicide bombers for exactly the same
reason men were. They are religiously motivated and they believe their salvation is
dependent upon it. Conservative jihadi groups often do not allow females into
combat roles or use them as suicide bombers unless there is a clear advantage in
doing so. In May 2015 it was published that ISIS used a new wedding certificate in
which it was stated that a jihadi bride could carry out suicide missions without
her husband’s permission. That meant that the final decision over her life rested
with the ISIS leader Al-Baghdadi: “If the Prince of Believers (Baghdadi) consents
to her carrying out a suicide mission, then her husband should not prohibit her”
(Saul 2015). This may suggest that ISIS was preparing to use female cadres for suicide
missions in the future.
But even if Western women did not all participate in fighting, some were already
trained to use Kalashnikovs for their own protection. Members of all-female brigade
Al-Khansaa brigade were also armed. Composed of mostly British women, they
enforced morality, dress standards, sex segregation, operated at checkpoints, oversaw
the sex slave trades and went on home raids. They could order the brutal punishment
of anyone they deemed as having broken the rules of ISIS.
ISIS women in Syria were also very active in propagating terrorist activities to
be conducted by ISIS sympathizers in the West. Sally Jones, aka Umm Hussein
Britaniya, posted multiple threats to Westerners in the UK, inciting lone wolves to
carry out attacks there during the month of Ramadan in 2016. On May 24, 2016,
Jones on her Twitter account called on Muslim women located in the UK to “rise at
Ramadan! … and kill the kuffar that suppress them.” Following up, she posted that
 International Annals of Criminology 39

attacks were likely to take place on subways in central London. On the other hand,
women at the forefront of a terrorist attack, like Hasna Aitboulahcen in Paris and
Tashfeen Malik in San Bernardino, could have had an important role, if it turns out
that they had radicalized and motivated their husbands to carry out the terrorist
attack, as some analysts suspect.
Not less dangerous are women who were not able to move to Syria, who were
stopped when they were trying to do so, or who instead opted to “stay and act in
place,” plotting for or carrying out lethal attacks in their own countries. Tashfeen
Malik from San Bernardino, for instance, gave her bayat (allegiance) to ISIS before
going on her fateful mission to attack and kill inside the United States. There are
many other examples.

CONCLUSION
The women from the West had an important role in ISIS and were considered as
crucial for the survival and growth of the “Caliphate.” When attempting to answer
the question “why were women from the West joining ISIS?” it is important to
have in mind that women, like their male counterparts, have complex motivations
for taking part in terrorism, motivations that are hardly as simple as marrying a
jihadi fighter. Women offered three primary reasons for traveling to the “Cali-
phate”: grievances, solutions and individual motivations. They join ISIS for mul-
tiple reasons that are as variable as the persons involved. ISIS’s “Caliphate,”
promoted as a “Muslim Disneyland,” was presented as an attractive place for
anyone whose life was off its tracks and who was looking for a fresh start in an
alternative world order, where Muslims were promised significance, purpose and
meaningful roles.
Commonly called “jihadi brides,” they were more than just stay-at-home wives
and mothers. Even if they were allowed to undertake the role of female fighters
shortly before the collapse of the “Caliphate,” women were empowered with the
responsibility of constructing a functioning state, which included providing educa-
tion and medical care, enforcing ISIS’s strict rules of dress and morality for other
women, and working as propagandists and recruiters.
It appears that ISIS will continue to attract women from the West to join its ranks.
As long as women and young girls are angry over politics in the Middle East, believe
that jihad is their religious duty, are disappointed with their life in the West while at
the same time enticed by ISIS ideology, they will continue to be willing to join the
group. Apart from being attracted by various motivating factors, a possibility of
becoming a part of a grand movement that will change the world is an opportunity
that many women do not want to miss, even if it includes participation in violence
and commitment of terrorist attacks.

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TRANSLATED ABSTRACTS

Abstracto
Más de 550 mujeres occidentales se mudaron a Siria e Irak para unirse al ISIS, mostrando
el éxito del ISIS al atraer a mujeres de Occidente que ningún otro grupo jihadista había
alcanzado antes. Para explicar las razones de su éxito, es importante entender cómo ISIS
atrae a las mujeres de Occidente, por qué las herramientas de persuasión ISIS tienen tanto
éxito, lo que motiva a las mujeres a unirse a un notorio grupo terrorista, famoso por su
 International Annals of Criminology 41

brutal violencia, el maltrato y la esclavitud de las mujeres y cual es el papel que las mujeres
esperaban desempeñar en el "Estado islámico". La comprensión de los motivos por los
cuales mujeres migrantes occidentales dejaron sus países occidentales de residencia y se
trasladaron a territorios controlados por ISIS es crucial para encontrar las medidas
adecuadas para prevenir y detener la radicalización de las mujeres, para cortar el soporte
que ISIS recibe de sus simpatizantes femeninas, para tratar adecuadamente mujeres
repatriadas y para preparar medidas apropiadas contra las mujeres listas para conspirar
contra sus países de residencia en nombre de los objetivos del ISIS.

Palabras clave: ISIS; estado Islámico; Califato; ISIS mujeres occidentales; Muhajirat

Abstrait
Plus de 550 femmes occidentales se sont installées en Syrie et en Irak pour rejoindre l'Etat
islamique, un grand succès de l'EIIS attirant plus des femmes occidentales qu'aucun autre
groupe djihadiste n'avait jamais atteint auparavant. Pour expliquer les raisons d'un tel
succès, il est important de comprendre comment l'EIIS attire les femmes de l'Ouest,
pourquoi les outils de persuasion de l'EIIS ont autant de succès, ce qui motive les femmes
à rejoindre un groupe terroriste notoire, et le rôle que ces femmes pensent pouvoir jouer
dans «l'État islamique». Comprendre les raisons pour lesquelles les migrantes occidentales
ont quitté leur pays de résidence et se sont installées dans des territoires contrôlés par
l'Etat islamique est essentiel pour trouver des mesures appropriées pour prévenir et
arrêter la radicalisation des femmes, réduire le soutien que ISIS reçoit de ses
sympathisantes, traiter correctement les femmes rapatriées et préparer des mesures
appropriées contre les femmes prêtes à comploter contre leur pays de résidence au nom
des objectifs de l'Etat islamique.

Mots-clés: ISIS; Etat islamique; Califat; femmes occidentales de l'Etat islamique; Muhajirat

摘要：
超过550名西方女人已经前往叙利亚和伊拉克加入伊斯兰国，显示了伊斯兰国在吸
引西方女性方面取得了成功，在此之前没有其他圣战组织实现过该目标。为了解
释这种成功的原因，需要重点理解的是：伊斯兰国是如何吸引西方女性，为何伊
斯兰国的说服手段如此成功，又是什么促使女性加入这样一个以残酷的暴力、虐
待和奴役妇女而臭名昭著的恐怖主义组织，以及女性在伊斯兰国中扮演的角色
等。了解伊斯兰国中的移民女性离开其西方国家并转移到伊斯兰国控制地区的动
机是至关重要的，这有助于寻找适当的措施来防止和阻止女性激进化，削减伊斯
兰国获得女性同情者的支持，恰当的对待女性回返者，并且有利于准备适当的措
施应对那些意欲以伊斯兰国名义密谋反对其居住国的女人。

关键词： 伊斯兰国、伊斯兰国家、哈里发国、伊斯兰国西方女人、穆哈吉拉特

‫ﺍﺍﳌﻠ ّﺨﺺ‬
‫ ﳑﺎ ﻳﻈﻬﺮ ﳒﺎﺡ ﺩﺍﻋﺶ‬،‫ ﺍﻣﺮﺃﺓ ﻏﺮﺑﻴّﺔ ﺇﱃ ﺳﻮﺭﻳﺎ ﻭﺍﻟﻌﺮﺍﻕ ﻟﻼﻧﻀﲈﻡ ﺇﱃ ﺩﺍﻋﺶ‬550 ‫ﺍﻧﺘﻘﻠﺖ ﺃﻛﱶ ﻣﻦ‬
،‫ ﻟﺘﻮﺿﻴﺢ ﺃﺳﺒﺎﺏ ﻫﺬﺍ ﺍﻟﻨﺠﺎﺡ‬.‫ﰲ ﺟﺬﺏ ﻧﺴﺎﺀ ﻣﻦ ﺍﻟﻐﺮﺏ ﱂ ﺗﺼﻠﻪ ﺃﻱ ﲨﺎﻋﺔ ﺟﻬﺎﺩﻳّﺔ ﺃﺧﺮﻯ ﻣﻦ ﻗﺒﻞ‬
،‫ ﻭﳌﺎﺫﺍ ﺗﶽ ﺃﺩﻭﺍﺕ ﺩﺍﻋﺶ ﰲ ﺍﻹﻗﻨﺎﻉ‬،‫ﻣﻦ ﺍﳌﻬﻢ ﺃﻥ ﻧﻔﻬﻢ ﻛﻴﻒ ﺃﻥ ﺩﺍﻋﺶ ﺗﻐﺮﻱ ﺍﻟﻨﺴﺎﺀ ﻣﻦ ﺍﻟﻐﺮﺏ‬
‫ ﺍﻟ ّﺬﺍﺋﻌﺔ‬،‫ﻭﺍﻟﺴﺒﺐ ﺍﻟﺬﻱ ﳛ ّﻔﺰ ﺍﻟﻨﺴﺎﺀ ﻋﲆ ﺍﻻﻧﻀﲈﻡ ﺇﱃ ﻫﺬﻩ ﺍﳌﺠﻤﻮﻋﺔ ﺍﻹﺭﻫﺎﺑﻴّﺔ ﺍﻟﺴﻴّﺌﺔ ﺍﻟﳧﻌﺔ‬
42 Anita Perešin

‫ ﻭﺳﻮﺀ ﻣﻌﺎﻣﻠﺔ ﺍﻟﻨﺴﺎﺀ ﻭﺍﺳﺘﻌﺒﺎﺩﻫﻦ؛ ﻭﺍﻟ ّﺪﻭﺭ ﺍﻟﺬﻱ ﻣﻦ ﺍﳌﺘﻮ ّﻗﻊ ﺃﻥ ﺗﻠﻌﺒﻪ‬،‫ﺼﻴﺖ ﰲ ﺃﲻﺎﳍﺎ ﺍﻟﻮﺣﺸﻴّﺔ‬ ّ ‫ﺍﻟ‬
‫ ﻳُ ْﻌﺘَ َُﱪ ﻓﻬﻢ ﺍﻷﺳﺒﺎﺏ ﺍﻟّﱵ ﺩﻓﻌﺖ ﲟﻬﺎﺟﺮﺍﺕ ﺩﺍﻋﺶ ﺍﻟﻐﺮﺑﻴّﺎﺕ ﺇﱃ‬."‫ﺍﻟﻨﺴﺎﺀ ﰲ "ﺍﻟ ّﺪﻭﻟﺔ ﺍﻹﺳﻼﻣﻴّﺔ‬
‫ﻦ ﺇﱃ ﻣﻨﺎﻃﻖ ﺗﺴﻴﻄﺮ ﻋﻠﻴﻬﺎ ﺩﺍﻋﺶ ﺃﻣ ًﺮﺍ ﻣﺼﻴﺮ ًﻳّﺎ ﻹﳚﺎﺩ‬ ٍّ ‫ﻣﻐﺎﺩﺭﺓ ﻣﲀﻥ ﺇﻗﺎﻣﳤﻦ ﰲ ﺍﻟﻐﺮﺏ ﻭﺍﻧﺘﻘﺎﳍ‬
‫ ﻭﻟﺘﻘﻠﻴﻞ ﺍﻟﺪﰪ ﺍﻟﺬﻱ ﻳﺘﻠﻘﺎّﻩ ﺩﺍﻋﺶ ﻣﻦ ﺍﳌﺘﻌﺎﻃﻔﺎﺕ‬،‫ﺗﺪﺍﺑﻴﺮ ﻣﻨﺎﺳﺒﺔ ﳌﻨﻊ ﺗﻄﺮﻑ ﺍﻟﻨﺴﺎﺀ ﻭﻭﺿﻊ ﺣ ّﺪ ﻟﻪ‬
‫ ﻭﺇﻋﺪﺍﺩ ﺘﺪﺎﺑﻴﺮ ﻣﻼﲚﺔ ﺿﺪ ﺍﳌﺮﺃﺓ ﺍﻟّﲏ‬،‫ ﻭﺍﻟﺘﻌﺎﻣﻞ ﻣﻊ ﺍﻟﻌﺎﺋﺪﺍﺕ ﻣﳯﻦ ﺑﺎﻟﻄﺮﻕ ﺍﳌﻼﲚﺔ‬،‫ﻣﻌﻪ ﻣﻦ ﺍﻟﻨّﺴﺎﺀ‬
‫ﻋﻠﻰ ﺃﻫﺒﺔ ﺍﻻﺳﺘﻌﺪﺍﺩ ﻟﻠﺘﺂﻣﺮ ﻋﲆ ﺑﻠﺪ ﺇﻗﺎﻣﳤﺎ ﺑﺎﺳﻢ ﺃﻫﺪﺍﻑ ﻫﺬﺍ ﺍﻟﺘّﻨﻈﲓ‬.

:‫ﺍﳇﲈﺕ ﺭﺋﻴﺴﻴّﺔ‬
‫ ﻣﻬﺎﺟﺮﺍ‬، ‫ ﻧﺴﺎﺀ ﺩﺍﻋﺶ ﺍﻟﻐﺮﺑﻴﺎﺕ‬،‫ ﺍﳋﻼﻓﺔ‬،‫ ﺍﻟﺪﻭﻟﺔ ﺍﻹﺳﻼﻣﻴﺔ‬،‫ﺩﺍﻋﺶ‬

Anita Perešin holds a Ph.D. in international relations and national security from the University of Zagreb.
She has had many duties related to national security and countering terrorism within the Croatian security
sector. She is a visiting lecturer at different universities and international schools abroad on national
security and countering terrorism and has extensively published on national and global security. Her
current research interests focus on the role of Western women and children in ISIS.

Cite this article: Perešin, A. 2018. Why Women from the West are Joining ISIS. International Annals of
Criminology 56: 32–42, doi: 10.1017/cri.2018.19