ISIS manifesto rejects Western notion of women and gender equality

Photo: REUTERS / Daniel Munoz

An ISIS manifesto posted on a jihadist forum reveals that the group sees women as primarily wives, mothers, and homemakers, and nothing more, according to a report  in The  Independent newspaper in the UK.

The lengthy document was translated from Arabic and analyzed by Charlie Winter, a jihadist researcher from the Quilliam Foundation.

The manifesto, entitled "Women in the Islamic State: Manifesto and Case Study" serves as the extremist group's rough guide on what is expected of new female recruits who are looking to join them.

However, it says it is intended to target females from the Gulf area only rather than the West.

Winter suggested that the document does not provide an accurate worldview.

"The document will be exaggerated and not a completely accurate reflection of what life is like, but what it does give us is a conceptual treatise of what life should be like and that's something that we haven't seen yet, at least not in English.

"Somebody will have made a decision not to circulate a manifesto like this in English because it contains uncomfortable ideas that may not sit well with the average Western girl looking to join the group," he said, in an interview with The Independent.

The document makes sure to emphasize that women are seen largely as responsible for the home living a sedentary lifestyle.

It states that girls as young as nine years of age are already permitted to marry their fighters.

Winter described it as a twisted jihadist version of feminism, wherein woman are purported to be important but instead have many restrictions imposed upon them.

Themes of injustice are also present in the manifesto as it portrays life in non-ISIS strongholds as barbaric and unjust. It goes on to urge women to join them so as to avoid living in such conditions.

 

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