Women’s Agency in Violent Extremism: Unravelling Gender Constructions in Counter-Terrorism

The recent growing attention to the question of gender in the field of terrorism studies is partially associated with stereotypical views and cognitive shortcuts based on prejudices denying women agency and assigning them the passive role of victims or, at best, of marginal supporters of violent contention. From a critical security and gender studies perspective, the aim of this article is to explore an under-researched topic such as the interplay between gender, terrorism and counter-terrorism. By looking at how counter-terrorism (CT) and countering violent extremism (CVE) policies take into consideration women’s agency, this study investigates how the construction of a gender dimension affects CT/CVE programming and unravel the extent to which it is based on gender stereotypes and tropes. Integrating a gender perspective into terrorism prevention strategies means also to understand how notions of ‘femininity’ and ‘masculinity’ and other gender construct shape radicalization, terrorism and CT/CVE. Thus, this work aims on one side at challenging the assumption of the intrinsic vulnerability and peacefulness of women involved in political violence and on the other at exposing gender-blindness of counter-terrorism and countering violent extremism strategies. By analyzing gender dynamics, constructions, and representations in CT/CVE policies, this paper attempts to increase epistemic awareness of women’s involvement in violent extremism. It concentrates on two empirical cases, namely the EU and the UN and takes the MENA region as a significant observation. It is based on a qualitative methodological approach and employs critical discourse analysis of official documents and interviews with officials to unravel how a gender dimension is discursively shaped.