September 27, 2017

The gender agenda in anti-terrorism campaigns

located:	Tanzania
editor:	Bob Koigi

One of the most intriguing developments in modern terrorism is that women and young girls are now moving from traditionally passive members to active participants of war. Once performing roles such as jihadists' brides, or social media campaigners, terror groups are now perfecting the art of using women's operational advantages, such as not stirring the same levels of suspicion.

These new tactics have been proven successful, with hundreds of citizens caught unaware, as experienced in some of the brazen attacks in the recent past. From the young female suicide bombers in Nigerian markets, to highly educated Tanzania girls who have managed to easily slip through security checks at border points.

Indeed in one of the most daring attacks, three women between 19 and 25 years old broke into a police station at the Kenyan coast, attacked police officers who were on duty before dousing themselves in petrol, ready to blow themselves up right at the heart of the busy station. Quickly shot by an officer, what would have been a catastrophe had been averted.

In the neighbouring Tanzania a female jihadist magazine, Al Ghuraba, is a manual for women interested in joining Jihad, training them on how to behave and dress in order to undertake successful attacks.

Numerous studies have elaborated why women have become easy prey for the most notorious jihadi groups, particularly Al Shabaab, Boko Haram and ISIS. The lure of quick money, and a promise of a better live for many young women who are either struggling to raise children or without access to education are powerful enough incentives to bait them.

This advanced johadist tactic offers security personnel and educators alike new challenges on how to tackle modern day terrorism. Equally, women who have been traditionally relegated to the back seat in policy and decision making must be actively involved in the anti-terror war. Schools, which have become a common breeding and recruitment ground for terrorists must focus more attention on empowerment, awareness creation and encourage free and non-discriminatory channels through which youths can discuss radicalism, with a strong emphasis on girls, who unfortunetaly offer the easiest prey.

The war on terror will never be won by the sophistication of the weaponry or the latest technology, it will be won when the world addresses the plight of those who are disenfranchised into extremism.