Female suicide bombers have been
used in several organizations around the world. Contrary to popular belief,
they are not just simply religious organizations full of religious fanatics.
Rather, many of these organizations are secular and work with religious
organizations in recruiting and using religions as a justification for larger
motivations (Weinberg & Eubank, 2011). Many organizations, some hosting a religious
exterior, have the secular goal of achieving nationhood. The best two examples
are the Al-Aqsa Brigade, working with Hamas and Hezbollah, in Palestine and the
completely secular Tamil Tigers of Sri lanka. Other organizations using female
suicide bombers include: Syrian Social Nationalist Party in Syria, Kurdistan’s
Worker’s Party aka (PKK), and the Chechen Shahidkas of Chechnya. Nationalism is
a huge motivating factor in each of these organizations, even the ones
affiliated with a religious philosophy. In every one of the organizations mentioned
above, their mission is to establish a nation while fighting in the name of
nationalism (Weinberg & Eubank, 2011). There is a lot of debate as to
whether or not women have different reasons than men for joining organizations
utilizing suicide bombing. Gender specific motivations include: regaining
family honor after events such as rape or infidelity, avenging the loss of a
loved one, or being forced into the organizations through kidnapping (Bloom,
2005). While there are some situations where this is the case it is essential
to understand that women are not inherently peaceful and have the same
motivations as men including nationalism and patriotism. According
to Sjoberg and Gentry (2007), most “accounts emphasize women’s motivations for
engaging in suicide terrorism as different to men’s, as associated with their
femaleness rather than humanity, and as personal rather than political” (p.
136). Furthermore, “academic studies of the motivation for female suicide
terrorists […] either ignore gender altogether or take account of gender
without seeing genderings” and that
“Instead of seeing women as agents making choices in relation to their
socio-cultural situation, each produces a stylized, gender-marginalizing
narrative of women’s participation in these movements that denies agency”
(p.137). According
to Ness (2008), even though “women terrorist are neither misfits nor rare […]
most people react with an extra level of shock and horror” (p. 217). This has
several implications when women are not considered political or violent beings.
The first is that because they are not considered violent, repeated acts of
terror by women occur under that radar of security forces and second, to
further their struggle these organizations have used women as cheap, effective,
and excellent sources of political and media attention and as sources of fear
and astonishment (Eager, 2008, p.172). Internationally the failure to realize
the ability of women in these organizations after abuses suffered at the hands
of an enemy has only served to fuel their involvement and as a source to
further nationalist sentiments (Bloom, 2011).
“I am
going to fight [emphasis added] instead
of the sleeping Arab armies who are watching Palestinian girls fighting alone”
–Ayat Akras (Al-Aqsa Brigade)
References
Bloom, M. (2005). Dying to kill: the allure of suicide
terror. New York: Columbia University Press.Bloom, M. (2011). Bombshell: women and terrorism.
Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
Eager, P. W.
(2008). From freedom fighters to terrorists women and political violence.
Aldershot,
England: Ashgate.
Ness, C. D. (2008). Female terrorism and militancy
agency, utility, and organization. Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge.
Sjoberg, L., & Gentry, C. E. (2007). Mothers,
monsters, whores: women's violence in global politics. London: Zed Books.
Weinberg, L., & Eubank, W. (2011). Women's Involvement
in Terrorism. Springer Science+Business Media, 28(Gender Issues),
22-49.
