Why not use women? : an examination of the conditions under which an Islamic terrorist
      organization will employ female suicide terrorism

Reuter, Krislyn Paige.

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organization will employ female suicide terrorism

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Reuter, Krislyn Paige.

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Thesis (M.A.)--Georgetown University, 2011.; Includes bibliographical references.; Text (Electronic thesis) in PDF format. Groups that use suicide terrorism have noticed a problem: counterterrorism efforts and security checkpoints have become so effective they have forced groups to innovate technologically, using women instead of men as suicide terrorists due to their ability to pass security screening. In so doing, however, many times groups must overcome significant cultural and ideological barriers, as well as risk alienating their host populations. The following paper tests a set of five hypotheses, involving the impact of sexism, Islamic ideology, resonance with a host population, target selection, and the presence of a military conflict, across four cases, to investigate which, if any, has a significant impact on groups' decisions to use female suicide terrorism. Findings are that sexism and Islamic ideology both have an impact on the use of female suicide terrorists, but that resonance with the host population has limited impact. The conclusion is that the use of female suicide terrorists is best seen as a technological innovation, the strategic value of which must be higher than the barriers to entry for a terrorist group to adopt the new technology.