Sec. 2. Findings
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Congress finds the following: Women play diverse roles in violent extremist organizations, including as victims, perpetrators, and preventers. Extremist groups benefit strategically and financially from the subjugation of women. Terrorist groups violate the rights of women and girls, from sexual enslavement and forced marriages to limiting their access to education and public life. Violent extremist groups have used women and girls as rewards for new recruits and as part of their recruitment efforts.
According to the 2016 U.S. State Department’s Country Reports on Terrorism, In 2015 and 2016, ISIS abducted, systematically raped, and abused thousands of women and children [in Iraq and Syria], some as young as eight years of age. Women and children were sold and enslaved, distributed to ISIS fighters as spoils of war, forced into marriage and domestic servitude, or subjected to physical and sexual abuse. . In northern Nigeria, Boko Haram has kidnapped and subjected thousands of women and girls to physical abuse, forced labor, forced marriage and sexual abuse.
As perpetrators of violent extremism and terrorism, women adopt all roles, including as informants, facilitators, recruiters, and suicide bombers. Empowering women may diminish their support for violent extremist organizations by increasing their sense of agency. Seeing women as partners empowers them to detect early signs of radicalization, intervening before individuals become violent and delegitimizing violent extremist narratives. Analysis by the Council on Foreign Relations concluded that, Anti-terrorism messages are disseminated quite effectively throughout families and communities by women, who can challenge extremist narratives in homes, schools and social environments, and have particular influence among youth populations. .
Extremist groups take strategic advantage of the relative absence of women in police and military forces. As security officials, women provide distinct insights, information, and analyses that can be mission-critical in keeping the peace. They may have access to populations and sites that men do not, allowing them to gather critical intelligence about potential security threats. Research has demonstrated a relationship between the security of women and the security of states.
According to a Texas A&M study, less empowerment for women in the household correlates with less stability nationwide, measured by political instability, lack of freedoms, autocracy, corruption, and internal conflict. Countries where women are less empowered at the household level are also more likely to produce foreign fighters going to territory controlled by terrorist organizations. Counterterrorism policy has not been as effective at understanding how women can improve security efforts.
According to the June 2016 U.S. National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security, A narrow understanding of women’s roles in CVE [countering violent extremism] limits policy options and perpetuates strategic blind spots, such as failing to recognize women’s agency as potential mitigators and perpetrators of violence. . According to a 2015 United States Agency for International Development study of women’s participation in violent extremism, there has been a marked gap in CVE [countering violent extremism] programming, which has focused mostly on male participation, without a commensurate reflection on and response to female-specific drivers and recruitment strategies. .
The Department of State & USAID Joint Strategy on Countering Violent Extremism , dated May 2016, notes that women can play a critical role in identifying and addressing drivers of violent extremism in their families, communities, and broader society ; and commits to supporting programs that engage women as key stakeholders in preventing and countering violent extremism in their communities . Women are on the front lines of observing and countering extremist violence, including as police officers engaging with local communities to prevent violent extremism, imams and other religious leaders preaching religious tolerance, and as those countering efforts to radicalize their husbands, children, and communities.
The Women, Peace, and Security Act of 2017 ( Public Law 115–68 ) established that Women in conflict-affected regions have achieved significant success in moderating violent extremism [and] countering terrorism. . The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2017 ( Public Law 115–31 ) required the creation of a comprehensive, inter-agency United States Government strategy to support women and girls at risk from extremism and conflict. Congress has also allocated $45,000,000 to support women and girls at risk from extremism and conflict.
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