The Greece Empire

Natalie Aquino

Politics of the Near and Middle East

Professor Zubida

Spring Semester

Final Paper

May 1, 2006

Middle Eastern Women and Terrorism: A Comparison Between Women in Politics and in Terrorist Activity

"Because I am a woman, I must make unusual efforts to succeed. If I fail, no one will say, "She doesn't have what it takes"; They will say, "Women don't have what it takes." -Clare Boothe Luce #

The above quotation expresses the sentiments of many women around the globe in there attempts at living life as an equal and attaining equal rights. Of struggling to succeed in a world that once considered them to be less than a man. In many cases, there are still locations around the globe that look at women as objects and not people. Over the history of humankind, that historical overview of the female sex is one filled with discrimination and hardships. Women are infiltrating what was once believed to be male dominated arenas. Various individuals have different theories about the assimilation of women into these areas and how does this affect the women in terms of there status. In Israeli and Palestinian societies, most of these areas dealing with the social and political realm are primarily still dominated by the male gender. Israeli and Palestinian women do not enjoy as much equality and power as there male counterparts. Despite significant achievements and progress, overall they continue to earn less, are less visible and influential in the political arena, do not share equal responsibilities or privileges in the military, have unequal rights and freedoms in family life and law, and are less influential in shaping the nation's self image and cultural orientation.# Many of these women in less democratic nations in the Middle East have found an outlet in terrorist organizations. The growing trend among women to join in this institutions of terror is alarming and worth examining further.

The way that the Israeli political system is being that it is a democracy should be able to facilitate the entry of women into the areas of politics and certainly not indirectly promote involvement with terrorist organizations. The entry of these women into the political spectrum is difficult and dependent of variables. It is evident that women

need (like their male counterparts) certain resources to be able to infiltrate the area of political discourse.# But the question is posed as to what are these resources and what quantity and quality of these resources are needed for women to achieve high standards or positions if any at all in this area dominated primarily by men. Education and Socioeconomic factors are essential as well as connected to one another. Women at times need to be more educated then their male counterparts in the area of politics. The higher the socioeconomic standards the higher the educations levels usually are. The more money there is to alleviate certain responsibilities, the more time there is for the development of political debate, and the obtaining of a higher education. It is also the case that in highly capitalist nation's women politicians are rarely seen in the political area, especially in high positions. The campaign funding is in the hands of these corporate heads, which are predominantly males. Therefore it would be difficult for a woman to obtain a seat with power when the funding is in the hands of the other gender. It may seem like a political gender war and a demand for resources, but the reality of the matter is that women need more resources then men to enter areas dominated by the latter. Army involvement for Israeli women is also gender related. Some experts make the point that both men and women have to serve in the armed forces, women are given societal constructed gender related roles in the armed forces.#

What can be concluded from this present knowledge about the inequalities and difficulties women face in entering the political arena is that many that are politicized, but lack the resources to enter turn to other means of attaining political satisfaction through terrorists groups and organization. Examining the situation of Israeli and it neighboring countries, it would seem that Israel, being the "most" democratic of the Middle Eastern Nations would be the one with the most opportunities for women, and therefore have the least incidences of female participation in terrorist activity. When the opportunities are limited in a what is to be assured that is democratic nation, in those countries that the government may be more limiting to women the involvement in other non-governmental activities may formulate and prosper. Despite the lack of research on the subject involving women and terrorism, there are some indications of the role that women might potentially play in terrorist organizations related to radical Islam.

There have been forty-six incidents that are from the years 1969 to 2005 recorded in which women were involved in massive terrorist attacks. On average, during the period analyzed, there were 1.3 terrorist attacks conducted per year by female terrorists. It was very difficult to assess the affiliation of the perpetrator, the number of victims and even the cause that the terrorist was affiliated with#. On a more traditional level of thinking about the issue, women have been perceived as victims of violence rather than as the perpetrators of these acts of violence related with terrorism. Since the year 1985, about thirty-four percent of terrorist attacks have been perpetrated by women.# Women have also filled operational roles in nearly all insurgencies. Surprisingly enough, it is known that the first terrorist organizations to use women were secular, and not religious. However, looking briefly through the literature on the subject of women and terrorism would lead a person to believe that number of these women involved is in fact much lower and that female terrorists are as a strange occurrence which is deserving of ample amounts of media attention. Women have been among the leaders and chief ideologues of terrorist organizations, such as the Weather Underground, Italy's Red Brigade and Germany's Red Army Faction, etc.#

Some notable examples of women playing major roles in terrorist organizations are Sendero Luminoso of Peru and the Baader-Meinhoff gang in Germany. #The first terrorist organizations to use women were secular in nature. Indeed, the role of women in left-wing or secular terrorist organizations has been particularly present throughout history, largely due to the fact that conservative nature of right-wing