ISIS militarizes motherhood to achieve strategic goals – report
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – Threats posed by women of Islamic State Organization (ISIS) should not be “downplayed” since the latter militarizes motherhood to achieve “strategic objectives,” The Lowy Institute said in a report.
ISIS uses and targets women to achieve insurgent, nationalist and genocidal objectives, the report said.
The Lowy Institute is an independent think tank based in Sydney, Australia, concerned about research on international political, strategic and economic issues from an Australian perspective.
The organization lists women representations as follows: “supporters”, “mothers/sisters/wives” and “fighters”to create”alternative gender order designed to further the group’s strategic objectives representations.”
The report stressed that the crimes committed by those women with ISIS “should broaden to encompass non-violent roles.”
It revealed the ISIS’s “supporters”, “mothers” and “wives” played key roles in the group’s documented enslavement, abuse and genocide of Yazidis.
Supporters and mothers/sisters/wives feature most prominently in female-targeted messaging.
“‘Supporters’ are ‘true’ Muslim women who perform hijrah (migration) to ISIS territories,” it read.
“Mother/sister/wife” raises and indoctrinates the next generation of “lion cubs” and also to empower women and demonstrate their roles in the organization to be “equally as important as men’s.”
It added that the decision to bring back women and children from camps in Syria is “an overdue policy change.”
The report noted that these views on the roles of women in ISIS should be taken into consideration as Australia and other Western nations seek adult female repatriation and that such repatriation should be managed carefully.