An Unusual Audience? TTP's Outreach Campaign towards Women

• In Event: Religion and Political Violence

Abstract

This paper aims to analyse the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan’s (TTP) recently ‘changing’ recruitment strategy - and in particular its outreach to an audience that was previously left out of its mainstream calls for jihad for over two decades after 9/11: women. It will do so through a comprehensive content analysis of three magazines released by the TTP, all of which aim to influence, inspire and recruit women. This paper situates Pakistani women’s social roles within a wider context and aims to weave out the influence that the TTP’s religious interpretation may have on their target audience. By delving deep into the propaganda-heavy content of the magazines, this paper hopes to shed light at the gendered turn that the TTP have taken from previously having allocated sheerly domestic and ‘supportive’ roles to women to now encouraging them towards more violent pathways. This paper hopes to also contribute to the larger debate about how ideal (and not-so-ideal) women are portrayed and perceived in these groups. It will address some very important and timely debates about women’s role in extremist groups that have been left untapped in the literature. In extension of that, it hopes to also add to the literature on women’s radicalization in Pakistan and the burning question of where they stand in the wider ‘gender role’ debate.

Author

• Iqraa Bukhari