Jakarta – Working Group on Women and Preventing/Countering Violent Extremism (WGWC) held a book review of Women and Terrorism, Wednesday (05/15/2019). The activity presented the co-writer of the book, Khoirul Anam, and Commissioner of the National Commission for Women, Riri Khariroh.
Khoirul Anam explained findings in the field. One of them is that women experience inequality in the household, especially ini husband and wife relation. This condition is exacerbated by the strong religious narrative received by women that the wife is obliged to obey whatever the husband said.
Another finding from the research is the fact that women who are involved in radicalism groups and movements are not aware that they have been radical, yet what other can see is that they no longer greet their neighbors they think do not practice Islamic teachings totally or kaffah.
“For these women, that was normal. They even assessed what her husband did, committed acts of terror, were not wrong and only carried out religious teachings, “he said after a book review at the International Finance Center, Jakarta.
Related to the increasing role of women in terrorism, Anam assessed that the government must pay attention to the men and children involved because men play major roles in this act of terrorism by inviting their wives.
At present, when women are involved in radicalism and terrorism, government programs do not only target women, because the problem lies with men. “So, the program should focus on men and children,” he stressed.
In some cases of terrorism, there are a lot of women who are pregnant and giving birth in prison, then their children up to several years in prison. He worried that the children would inherit their parents’ hatred. That thing needs to be found soon.
In the same place, National Commission for Women, Riri Khariroh said that currently there was a shift in the role of women in terrorism cases. Usually, women are only supportive, that is, supporting their husband who is a terrorist, can now play an active role. This can be seen in several cases of women becoming suicide bombers.
“This situation escapes the government’s attention. Though various studies and studies have mentioned that women have the potential to have the same role as men in the radicalism movement,” she said.
