Women’s Shifting Roles in Terrorism and Why Digital Media Literacy Matters

In the post-pandemic era, the terrorist acts have evolved, such as spreading terrorism and extremist ideologies through social media platforms to recruit, gain funds, and massively spread their propaganda. This includes targeting women, youth, and children to achieve its objective. However, the question lies in women’s roles in terrorism issues, which is surrounded by a never-ending dilemma on their initial motives; whether they are perpetrators or victims of terrorists act. Despite the debate, the number of women involved in extremist acts increased throughout the years.

Read also: Hoax Cases in Indonesia during the Pandemic

In 2025, Indonesia’s National Counter Terrorism Agency (BNPT) stated that women’s role in terrorist acts quintupled, accounting for 55 individuals compared to the previous period. Concerning this, the prevention of terrorism needs to be redirected, focusing on women and mitigating the primary cause of terrorism.

There are several factors that lead to their participation in a radical act. Women, who are considered victims, do experience a shifting role. Initially, they are the victims of a terrorist act in the patriarchal culture in Indonesia. Their role as a wife, mother, or daughter showed subordination to man.

According to scholars, there are also supporting factors, religion and economic background, the need to be a good individual to their family, and the need for a better future. This include but is not limited to general factors such as grievance, self-motivated, politic and economy instability. Moreover, the terror groups who falsely offers a promising future. This turns them from being a victim into an active sympathizer, even perpetrator. Furthermore, they tend to be lone wolves, rather than operating within groups.

One of the examples is young woman Dian Yulia Novi, a terror convict who tried to do a bombing on Indonesia State Palace in 2016, and Zakiah Aini, who attacked the national police office in 2021. Based on the police report and investigation, both Dian and Zakiah were exposed to extremist ideology. In this term, they are specifically indoctrinated by religious-based terror groups whose legalize the use of extremism on behalf of religious purposes.

Aligned with this trend, the BNPT report in 2023 officially stated that women are a vulnerable group targeted by terror groups, mainly to weaponize them and strengthen their role in fields rather than ‘off-screen’ duties. It led to another question: how do the terror groups infiltrate them, with what access, and to what extent?

Working in BNPT for more than four years, I have experience firsthand to uncover individuals’ involvement in terror act through an offline interview. Many of them told me that they initially did not plan to do terror acts, because their involvement is solely to have a better future or a better understanding of their religion, in which the extreme acts were not predicted. During the process, the terror groups actively penetrate their religious and political understanding, through manipulation and force them second-guess their belief, until they were recruited to become the government’s opponents.

The recruitment process also developed from offline to online means, including social media. It turned out to be a propaganda tool because it is low cost, accessible, and has a massive audience, not to mention women.

Terrorist group knows how to communicate –even terror itself is a result of strategic communication. They understand the characteristic of women -nurturing instinct, empathy, feeling over logic, and so on. In this term, the message, storytelling, and propaganda also attract women’s attention. The pattern remained the same: online encounter, group, and offline meetings.

Beyond this, the audience also has the potential to be self-radicalized, a phenomenon in which individuals are self-indoctrinated by the extremist content. This dilemma raised even more questions. For example, the Jemaah Ansharu Daulah (JAD) symphatizer on 2019 Medan suicide bombing, North Sumatra.

Read also: Perception of Injustice as a Trigger of Terrorism

In a private interview with DW in 2022, when covering news about deradicalization, she had admitted that her role in spreading terror propaganda through Facebook and Telegram was due to her late husband’s order. Helpless DW has no option and decides to publish it, which resulted her serving in prison for almost 3 years. Another case is DA, a young woman who is known as an ISIS returnee, uncovers that dark truth behind her experience, moving abroad to a religious extremist group camp just to be discriminated and threatened, and almost married to an ISIS combatant.

Encountered with her at a Southeast Asian civil society organizations conference, DA stated that the lack of family attention had motivated her to deepen her religion, which she found on the internet about an ISIS poster. Realized that it was a ‘trap’ of extremism and discrimination, DA returns to Indonesia and actively runs her business while empowering the society.

These 2 cases contradict the previous case; some of them are perpetrators (self-radicalized), while some of them are victims of disinformation. Although the variety of the cases left unfixed term regarding their role and motivation, the main cause of the study cases is lack of education and digital literacy. They need a solid foundation to resist extremist group ideologies.

If women have such bravery and influence, why not redirect it? The United Nations have long strengthen women’s role in peace building through its resolution 1325, the first resolution to establish the Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) Agenda supporting women as agent of peace and encourage their role in international security. Women have the capability to prioritize social reconciliation, emphasize dialogue, and ensure gender equality in making decisions.

Read also: Women in Terrorism : Important Role Also a Victim

In this term, the WPS agenda is the core foundation for women to be empowered and enlightened, also guides them to maximize their potential in various role. Critical thinking and media literacy are highly needed to prevent extremist ideologies from infiltrating them, their family, and their community. Specifically, as a mother who is responsible for educating and protecting their children from being radicalized, followed by being financially independent and possessing strong competitiveness in this unstable global environment.

Women have to be the drivers instead of spectators towards the increasing radicalism and extremism. Aligned with the current challenges, where the female victims are radicalized through the massive propaganda spread in digital space. Therefore, counter narratives combined with critical thinking skills play an important role.

Currently, issues are emerging not because of economic or gender inequality, but information inequality.

When information is processed without credible sources, double verification, and cross-checked with another source, it is possible to prevent women from being vulnerable to terror groups’ propaganda. Moreover, strong, educated, and empowered women will have the courage to choose the right decision and refuse the ideas that contradict to peace, tolerance, humanity, and justice.

In conclusion, a resilient society depends on critical thinking and media literacy to resist terrorist propaganda and avoid believing misinformation that can lead to violent extremism. In the digital age where information is accessible, women could take roles and be the ‘frontliner’ in preventing terrorism through actively involved in peace campaigns, advocating the dangers of extremism, and participating in reducing the number of women associated with terrorism and extremism while promoting peace in the public sphere.

Author: Andini Putri Arijanto
Public Relations Staff of National Counter-Terrorism Agency (BNPT RI)