Jeanne Duley

she/her

Working Title of PhD: Women, Perpetrators of Terrorism: A Symbol of Change?

Year commenced PhD study: 2021 Institution/Organisation: University of Glasgow

Full or part-time: full-time

PhD Supervisors: Prof Michele Burman, Prof Fergus McNeill

Synopsis of PhD:

hen we associate women with terror, we think of the latter as victims. To this day, numerous scholars still believe that women are not destined to become fighters. The notion of women willingly participating in violence is still not perceived by society. Nonetheless, they have always been a part of terrorism. In the past couple of years, many the number of women joining terrorist groups (including ISIS) has dramatically raised because of the emergence of female criminality. They are not only “jihadi brides” but play a crucial role in terrorism. This leads us to wonder how the increased presence of women perpetrators of terrorism could alter the behaviour of terrorist organizations? This research will take the form of a multiple case study as different terrorist groups will be examined, including al-Qaeda, ISIS, the Black Widows, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), Hamas and Boko Haram. A multiple case study method will help comparing the reactions of the chosen terrorist organizations towards women perpetrators.