Links between violent extremism and violence against women

Tue 18 Feb 2020

This article collates some international resources on the links between violent extremism and violence against women (VAW).

In September 2019, UN Women published a Guidance Note that explores the use of gender mainstreaming in preventing and countering violent extremism (P/CVE). In the foreward, United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of UN Women Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka said:

“In my visits to affected areas, I have seen first-hand how sophisticated these groups are in exploiting existing gender inequalities and ideas around traditional or ‘ideal’ roles for women and men in their recruitment materials and propaganda.”

Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka went on to say that the UN response needed to:

“… correspond to that sophistication, tactically integrating gender and women’s rights in P/ CVE design, implementation and evaluation. This means ensuring that our programming and support appropriately reflect the different needs of women, men, girls and boys. It means addressing the systemic vulnerabilities that women face. At the same time it is vital to recognize how the intersection of multiple facets of women’s identities – including their age, ethnicity, education level, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability – can increase vulnerability for some, but also provide women with valuable insights into preventing violent extremism in their communities. It also means working to eliminate harmful masculinities and promote positive behaviours, and removing the barriers to women’s participation and leadership in prevention and reintegration work.”

The United Nations Plan of Action to Prevent Violent Extremism (2015) contained recommendations specific to gender equality and empowering women including:

Mainstream gender perspectives across efforts to prevent violent extremism
Invest in gender-sensitive research and data collection
Include women and other underrepresented groups in national law enforcement and security agencies, including counter-terrorism prevention and response
Build the capacity of women and their community groups to participate in prevention and response
Ensure funding projects that address women’s specific needs or empower women

United States organisation Futures Without Violence has stated:

“As much as the subordination of women is at the forefront of violent extremists’ strategy, advancing gender equality has not become a cornerstone of the architecture of response. In fact our reactive response to violent extremism has shifted much of our energy toward military and technological strategies and away from development and human rights initiatives which directly impact the strengthening of the community in general and women in particular.”

Researchers at Monash University’s Gender, Peace and Security Centre (Australia) have been examining gender-based approaches to preventing violent extremism and terrorism, writing:

"... we have explored the relationship between attitudes characterised as ‘misogyny’ or hatred of women, acts of violence against women and girls, and violent extremism. In three countries in Asia, we have found that support for violence against women and hostile sexist attitudes are both stronger predictors of support for violent extremism than religiosity, which is commonly perceived to be the major root cause."

Other international research and resources on the links between violent extremism and VAW

Update: Mass Attacks in Public Spaces: 2016 - 2020 (January 2023), United States Secret Service National Threat Assessment Center

Update: Programmatic note: UN Women countering terrorism and preventing violent extremism support within the framework of women, peace, and security (May 2022)

Update: Assessing Misogyny as a ‘Gateway Drug’ into Violent Extremism (January 2022) and Understanding the Links between Gender-Based Violence and Mass Casualty Attacks: Private Violence and Misogyny as Public Risk (April 2022)

Update: Misogyny, Extremism, and Gun Violence (Everytown [USA], January 2022)

Update: The role of domestic violence in fatal mass shootings in the United States, 2014–2019 (published 2021)

Update: Analytic report: Prevalence of domestic abuse related incidences within Prevent referrals - Project Starlight (UK Counter Terrorism Policing, November 2021), also see Research project released investigating prevalence of domestic abuse related incidences within prevent referrals

Update: Misogyny: The Extremist Gateway? (UN Development Programme, Oslo Governance Centre, 2021)

Update: Literature review: The links between radicalisation and violence against women and girls (Suk hwant Dhaliwal and Liz Kelly, June 2020)

Update: Women, Peace and Security: The Sexism and Violence Nexus (Elin Bjarnegård, Erik Melander, and Jacqui True, 2020)

Update: Conflicting Identities: The Nexus between Masculinities, Femininities and Violent Extremism in Asia (Katherine E. Brown, David Duriesmith, Farhana Rahman and Jacqui True, 2022)

Update: Misogyny & Violent Extremism: Implications for Preventing Violent Extremism (Melissa Johnston and Jacqui True, 2019)

Intimate connections: Lone actor mass casualty attacks, violence against women and misogyny (Jude McCulloch and JaneMaree Maher, 2020)

Intimate Partner Violence, Risk and Security: Securing Women’s Lives in a Global World (Kate Fitz-Gibbon, Sandra Walklate, Jude McCulloch, JaneMaree Maher, 2020)

Australia’s implementation of women, peace and security: promoting regional stability (Louise Allen, Australian Strategic Policy Institute, 2020)

Ten Years of Mass Shootings in the United States (Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund report, 2019)

Report: Gender dynamics in violent extremism (summary of expert meeting hosted by Wilton Park, UK Foreign Office and UN Women, 2019)

Understanding the role of gender in preventing and countering violent extremism and radicalization that lead to terrorism: Good Practices for Law Enforcement (Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, 2019)

Lone Wolf Terrorism Through a Gendered Lens: Men Turning Violent or Violent Men Behaving Violently? (Jude McCulloch, Sandra Walklate, JaneMaree Maher, Kate Fitz-Gibbon, & Jasmine McGowan, in the Journal of Critical Criminology , 2019)

Recognizing the violent extremist ideology of ‘Incels’: Policy Brief (Women In International Security, 2018)

An approach to prevention and countering terrorism and violent extremism? (Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, 2018)

The UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy Review: Raised expectations, missed opportunities from the June 2018 review (Center on International Cooperation, 2018)

Women and countering violent extremism (Governance and Social Development Resource Centre, 2017)

Linking security of women and security of states: Policymaker Blueprint (Futures without Violence, 2017)

Building government civil society organisation partnerships: Implementing gender-based approaches to Preventing/Countering Violent Extremism (P/CVE) (Commonwealth of Australia, 2017)

Criminology, gender and security in the Australian context: Making women’s lives matter (Sandra Walklate, Jude McCulloch, Kate Fitz-Gibbon, JaneMaree Maher, in Theoretical Criminology, 2017)

A man’s world? Exploring the roles of women in countering terrorism and violent extremism (Global Center on Cooperative Security, 2016)

Update: Promundo published a new report, Masculinities and Preventing Violent Extremism: Making the Connections (2020), reviewed literature and research to explore the ways in which harmful masculinities, gender inequality, and violence-supportive attitudes and practices, as well as young men’s identity construction and trauma from their own experiences of violence, influence their engagement in violent extremism.

New Zealand policies, strategies and discussions of violent extremism

Since the Christchurch terror attacks, measures introduced by the New Zealand Government to address terrorism and violent extremism include:

The Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Attack on Christchurch Mosques - report due on 30 April 2020
The Christchurch Call to eliminate terrorist and violent extremist content online
$17 million of funding to address violent extremist content online
The Terrorism Suppression (Control Orders) Act 2019
Gun legislation reforms (see our 'Related articles' below).

Further information and commentary is available in the resources and media list below:

Christchurch in the context of New Zealand terrorism and right wing extremism (Battersby & Ball, 2019)

Speech to the Annual Conference of the Islamic Women's Council of New Zealand by Royal Commission member Jacqui Caine (25 August 2019)

Kōrero Whakamauāhara: Hate Speech (Human Rights Commission, 2019) - overview of NZ's legal framework on hate speech

New Zealand National Action Plan for the implementation of United Nations Security Council Resolutions, including 1325, on Women, Peace & Security 2015-2019 (New Zealand Government, 2015)

Update - Released in February 2020:

New Zealand's Counter-Terrorism Strategy (2020)

Cabinet Decision ERS-19-SUB-0026: Looking Forward: Strengthening New Zealand Against Terrorism and Violent Extremism (September 2019, publicly released 2020)

Update - Released in August 2020:

Social Inclusion in New Zealand: a rapid evidence review, Ministry for Social Development (2020)

Community organisations

Islamic Women's Council of New Zealand (IWCNZ)

Khadija Leadership Network

Shakti Community Council - on 13 March 2020, Shakti will launch #LetsDealWithIt, a campaign to raise public awarenss of all forms of discrimination and highlight the work of change-makers already working to address discrimination.

UK study shows link between domestic violence and radicalisation risk, Reuters, 25.11.2021

Government establishes counter-terrorism research centre and scholarships, Beehive media release, 01.10.2021

Countering dominant narratives of NZ’s far right, Newsroom, 21.04.2021

Leading scientists call for public report of risks facing NZ, Stuff, 20.04.2021

Royal Commission Report, Press Release: Foundation Against Islamophobia and Racism, Scoop, 23.11.2020

Call For Better Protection Against Racism And Islamophobia, Press Release: Religious Communities Leadership Forum, Scoop, 28.08.2020

Police call for stronger counter-terrorism laws, RNZ, 28.08.2020

Young ACT faces more questions over online harassment, Newsroom, 04.08.2020

On the internet, freedom for some never means freedom for all, The Spinoff, 27.07.2020

Government must listen to Muslim community about the Attack on Christchurch Mosques, Human Rights Commission Press Release, 10.07.2020

Calls for reparation for mosque shooting victims due to systemic 'failures', Stuff, 08.07.2020

‘Everything was in place to ignore us’: Officials ‘uninterested’ in Muslim community’s pre-March 15 warnings, The Spinoff, 07.07.2020