The Islamic State’s (ISIS) media campaign creates a new kind of monster, one that the world is unsure how to combat. “Jihadi Johns” have become the focus of the media, as Western nations are stunned that their own citizens are becoming foreign fighters for the militant Islamist organization. Occasionally, a story pops up in the media about teenage girls being stopped at the airport trying to run off and join the Islamic State. ISIS’ promises of a holy jihad cause foreign fighters to flock to fight for the regime, but while ISIS is still concerned with winning the war, it is more interested in creating a stable society that will endure; for them, the role of women and the creation of families is the cornerstone of the utopia they have envisioned.
There is no shortage of media coverage reporting on the extensive rape, slavery, violence and forced marriages imposed upon women living under the tyranny of ISIS. Why then, would these women and teenage girls choose to migrate to such a regime?
While ISIS’ unique propaganda does play an important role, we cannot ignore the portion of the fault that lies with the Western countries where these women reside and their rampant Islamophobia that ostracizes entire communities. What the media has mostly ignored is the fact that according to a study done by Charlie Winter and the Quilliam Foundation, more than half of the Islamic State’s propaganda focuses not on their military triumphs and jihad, but rather on portraying daily life within ISIS to be a bucolic utopia, which makes life under such a regime seem possible, if not ideal. Much of their media recruitment actually targets young, foreign women with propaganda in English and romantic promises of a simple, rural life with a caring, jihadist husband. In some cases, they even suggest that these girls also will be given the opportunity to run to the front lines to wage jihad alongside their husbands.
These Western women may feel that their lives are very tightly controlled, with their families determining where they go or to whom they may speak. On the internet, however, they find themselves on equal footing with the recruiters, who listen to their opinions and sing praises of the important role of women in building their utopian society — a perverted type of jihadist feminism. Through social media, these women then develop important friendships with recruiters, who give them advice and instructions on how to escape their countries and join the Islamic State. However, the reality of life with ISIS is often grim as the girls are usually widowed after one to two months and then are remarried after a short mourning period.
Interestingly, ISIS’ recruitment of Western women is much different from their recruitment of Middle Eastern women. ISIS released a manifesto detailing the specific role of women in their society. This manifesto existed only in Arabic before it was found and translated, but the document has no traces of the jihadist feminism used to recruit Western women and is likely much closer to what life is actually like under the Islamic State is. It includes details about the absurdity of higher education for women and insists that women should be kept indoors and their work should be kept to a minimum. If the Western women being recruited were to read the translated manifesto, they might not be as likely to join ISIS, as their dream of having an important role would be shattered. In order to combat the Islamic State’s recruitment of women, more information needs to be disseminated about the realities of life in ISIS, such as with the translated manifesto, and Western societies need to focus on empowering all women, building their self-esteem and challenging sentiments of Islamophobia that can cause these women to feel isolated and attacked by their own society.
Haqiqah, an online magazine created by a group of Islamic scholars from Britain, has already started a counter-narrative campaign against ISIS’ recruitment efforts by offering detailed descriptions about life with ISIS and has even focused on women specific counter-narratives. But one single British magazine cannot hope to even put a dent in a media campaign of ISIS’ magnitude. We need many more of these counter-examples, exposing the realities of life with ISIS and using the women and refugees who have fled life within the Islamic State as examples. In order to obtain these critical narratives, we also need to allow defectors to come back home with minimal prosecution as many women are often too fearful of the government’s judicial process and of potential family retribution to return.
If these women are drawn to ISIS because recruiters entice them with a sort of twisted feminism by praising their critical role in their society, we need to focus on a much more general tactic of women’s empowerment. But in societies where veiled women are often the victims of Islamophobic-motivated discrimination and hate crimes, we need to focus on both stopping this Islamophobia and empowering this particularly vulnerable group of women. These women need to understand that the society that they live in does value them. More high-ranking, educated Muslim women need to be portrayed in the media and at universities as positive examples and as role models for these ostracized girls. Western societies in general also need to be educated about the positive values of Islam and consequently that the distorted ideology of ISIS is in no way condoned by the Quran or indicative of the entire religion.
If we want to win the media war against ISIS, we need to implement this multifaceted counter-narrative in conjunction with broad societal changes focusing on women’s empowerment and stopping Islamophobia in order to save our citizens from falling for the idyllic trap of the Islamic State.
Emily Flood is a junior at Rice University majoring in political science and French studies. She is an intern at the Baker Institute’s Center for the Middle East.