Abstract

Terrorism global terrorism and global religious terrorism represent three different levels of the phenomenon Despite the word terrorism being associated with a period of the French Revolution of 1789 terrorism is much older However global terrorism only dates back to almost 150 years as it began with the anarchist wave Rapoport 2001 in the last decades of the 19 th century and global religious terrorism is the most recent as it started with the Islamic Revolution in Iran In this evolution the role of women in terrorism has changed over time and when religion made its appearance as a feature of the phenomenon it reached a critical position even in the communities where women are not regarded as man s equals This paper provides a snapshot of global female jihadism It points out the reasons for female attraction to terrorism It also shows the roles that women play in terrorist groups The argument of this paper is that instead of paradise female jihadists mostly those who left western countries discover hell on earth Besides the article suggests that they represent a challenge and a threat following the breakdown of the ISIS caliphate