ABSTRACT
Gender identity and gendered political narratives are fundamental to understanding conflict, and yet gender remains under-explored in much of the literature on violent extremist organizations. In this chapter, the authors aim to apply a gender lens to better understand how violent extremist organizations attract and maintain their male and female members. They explore the centrality of gender within the family, which is a site of both recruitment and resistance to violent extremism. Family, as a conduit of culture and belief, can play a central role in shaping attitudes toward violence and non-violence. The authors review how policy-makers and implementers grapple with gender as they attempt to shrink sources of support for violent extremist movements, insurgencies, and non-state armed actors. They conclude that violent extremism and fundamentalist violent extremist organizations should be understood as rooted in deeply gendered identity, gendered obligation, gendered emotion, gendered opportunity, and gendered political narratives.
