Currently viewing the tag: "gender"

ISIL’s message: Where the world “denies” potential recruits their masculinity, the Islamic State is ready to confer. The group promises these young men that by immigrating to the combat zones of Iraq and Syria, they will “reclaim” their masculinity by assuming their idealized gender roles of fighter and protector.

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Why would these girls and women, some of whom bring their own young children, decide to journey to one of the world’s most dangerous warzones under the control of a violent insurgent group? Of course, not all women and girls under ISIL control have had any choice whatsoever in their circumstances, perhaps the most dramatic and well-documented examples stem from ISIL’s treatment of Yazidi women, who have been sold as sex slaves, as discussed below. But for the growing group of older girls and women who have responded to ISIL recruitment efforts, a range of promises draw them towards the group.

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By Dyan Mazurana, Dallin Van Leuven and Rachel Gordon–ISIL’s propaganda gives the illusion that ISIL-controlled areas offer a safe and holy haven, where Shari’a law reigns. It is this ideal that, in part, attracts Muslim males and females with promises of opportunities to directly or indirectly wage jihad and practice their idealized masculine (the fighter/husband/father/protector) and feminine (the wife/mother/protected) gender roles within this contrived society.

But their materials go even further to tailor their message for different audiences. What follows are two blog posts separately discussing ISIL recruitment materials and tactics for older girls and women, and for boys and men.

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Speech delivered on January 13, 2014 at “It Began in Boston: Celebrating a Century of Peace Work in Massachusetts,” the Annual World Peace Foundation toast to peace, held in the Edwin Ginn Library at Tufts University’s The Fletcher School.

It is truly a pleasure to join all of you for the World Peace Foundation’s […]

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The World Peace Foundation is pleased to introduce the Occasional Paper series, through which we will feature research on topics related to conflict and peace. Our first Occasional Paper series publication is devoted to Gender, Conflict, and Peace. Dr. Dyan Mazurana, Associate Research Professor at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and Research Director […]

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The 2012 Human Security Report on Sexual Violence, Education, and War (HSR), claims that the occurrence of sexual violence against women, particularly those defined by the Rome Statute as crimes against humanity (rape, sexual slavery, forced prostitution) is decreasing during conflict, while at the same time representations of this violence treat the most severe […]

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