Women Terrorists

Women have been involved in organizations engaged in political violence for a very long time, but the significance of their contribution to the history of terrorism is often overlooked. Especially since the 1960s, women have been increasingly important in nationalist and radical left-wing organizations. Nationalist organizations that have had significant female membership include the Irish Republican Army (IRA), Basque Fatherland and Liberty (ETA), Fatah, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Ealam (LTTE). Left-wing organizations with significant female membership include the Red Army Faction (RAF), the Red Brigades, FARC, the Japanese Red Army (JRA), and the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist). The Peruvian group Shining Path (Sendero Luminoso) was thought to be as much as 60 percent female, but this level of participation is [Page 630]rare, and in most terrorist organizations it is likely that women are a minority. Organizations with strong religious identities have not generally had significant female membership, but there has been a notable expansion of female members in some of these organizations since 2000. Women are now members of the al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, Palestine Islamic Jihad (PIJ) and Hamas, and there are indications that al Qaeda is reconsidering their longstanding opposition to women's membership.

Women terrorists can have strategic and tactical advantages over men. Because women are usually not suspected of involvement in terrorism, they can more easily evade security checks and surveillance. There are also powerful cultural taboos against women being searched in public or being searched by men (who make up the majority of security personnel). Indeed, the ability of women to circumvent heightened security may be an explanation for the increasing occurrence of women terrorists. Organizations are finding it necessary to deploy women because men cannot penetrate heightened security around potential targets. It is possible that organizations are also capitalizing on the political importance of women terrorists, for their use may be seen as a statement that the situation has become so dire that even women are turning to violence to assert their rights. Extensive media coverage is also usually guaranteed for an attack by a woman terrorist, which may appeal to an organization's desire for publicity.

Female terrorists have used common perceptions of women's social roles as caregivers in order to carry out attacks. For example, women have hidden bombs in baby carriages, strapped bombs to their abdomens to resemble pregnancy, and transported weaponry under religiously modest clothing.

The roles women perform vary depending on the organization and the sociopolitical context in which the conflict occurs. Women have important roles that provide support and continuity to terrorist organizations, such as maintaining safe houses; smuggling or transporting arms, equipment, or personnel; holding, administering, or raising funds; recruitment; and providing political and emotional support. In many organizations women can hold combatant roles, and women have taken part in various forms of direct violence, including shootings, bombings, and hostage taking. An early example of a woman combatant is Leila Khaled, who was part of the PFLP unit that hijacked a plane in 1969 and participated in a failed second hijacking in 1970.

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