Western women break original 'jihadi bride' sterotypes

The reason Western women join ISIS may not be so clear cut.

With a significant number of educated women from comfortable lives in the West joining the Islamic State, they are breaking the "jihadi bride" stereotype, according to a report done in the United Kingdom.

MUNTINLUPA, PHILIPPINES (Catholic Online) - These young women, who mostly come from a good educational background, are seen as crucial players in the spread of the extremist propaganda and further expansion of the group. Researchers argued that there are varying notions needed to be considered when it comes to this upsurge.

"Western female recruits to ISIS are breaking previous stereotypes about who is 'at risk' of radicalization into jihadism and violent extremist networks," according to the report by the Institute for Strategic Dialogue and the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation at King's College, London.

Entitled "Till Martyrdom Do Us Part," the research was based on the social media participation of about a hundred or more women from the West, who are speculated to have joined the ISIS.

Their findings suggest that a wide range of reasons are present in one's considerations for joining the extremist terrorist group, according to Yahoo News.

"The assumption that females join ISIS primarily to become 'jihadi brides' is reductionist and above all, incorrect," in contrast to the prevailing idea, according to the report. These women were found to be experiencing the feeling of social and cultural isolation, like the Western men who made a pact with the militants.

They also carry the belief that Muslims are being persecuted; therefore, are inraged with the idea that nothing was being done to stop the violence against their religion and its people.

Although their first and foremost expected roles are being good wives to the jihadis and producing offsprings for the next generation, they were at first attracted to the romanticized adventure it would bring, as well as the religious idealism and sisterhood.

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