November 20, 2019
Boko Haram, Women and Suicide Bombing
By: Jordan Galehan, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Criminology at Flagler College
Since the beginning of its insurgency in Nigeria in 2002, Boko Haram (a terrorist group operating primarily North-eastern Nigeria, which has also crossed into Chad, Cameroon and Niger) has used more women suicide bombers than any other terrorist group in the world. Some join willingly. In many Boko-Haram affected countries, women have few choices. Many of the Sub-Saharan African countries receive low scores in areas of gender development and inequality as well as other areas of human development (with Boko Haram-affected countries ranking in the lowest 20% globally). According to Hilary Matfess, research analyst at the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project, some women and girls who join Boko Haram “…simply tend to see it as the best option available to them. Women may also join Boko Haram to escape the patriarchal trappings of a domestic life with limited independence and means to improve their socioeconomic status. Others, however, are abducted or kidnapped, coerced into participating in the group.
Who are these women?
The subset of women Boko Haram recruits (both willing and coerced) who ultimately become suicide bombers is diverse. The International Crisis Group’s 2016 report, entitled “Nigeria: Women and the Boko Haram Insurgency,” found that the youngest of this subset (around seven years of age according to some estimates) are often “duped by relatives or possibly drugged.” The largest age group of women and girl suicide bombers is teenagers. The report also states that the older bombers are generally willing to participate and are motivated by their commitment to jihad, religious teachings and writings and entry into paradise upon completion of the mission and death.” These findings are consistent with other reports and investigations into this region.
Boko Haram’s use of women suicide bombers is well known within communities where Boko Haram operates. For example, social workers in Nigeria who have been able to speak to some of the surviving wives of Boko Haram fighters state that they are afraid of the women because they “know it’s Boko Haram wives who are used to bring the bombs.” Additional interviews with former female members indicate a degree of truth in this narrative. One former member said that, “It’s okay to be a suicide bomber. It’s normal.”
It is of note that, while women willing to marry higher ranking officers or fighters in Boko Haram can gain status and power in the camp, those who refuse marriage proposals are often sexually victimized, used as domestic and camp slaves and/or sent on suicide bombing missions.
Kidnapping and Victimization
In colonial occupations and conflicts in Africa (such as those in Liberia and Algeria), high levels of kidnapping and sexual assault of (as well as more generalized violence against) women has occurred. Boko Haram’s tactics may be compared more readily to certain of these civil wars and post-colonial conflicts than other terrorist organizations. The vicious cycle of kidnappings, trade negotiations and escalating tactics that occurred between the state and Boko Haram contributed directly to the kidnapping of many women and girls held in militant camps.
Many girls are used to carry out attacks and made to “lure government soldiers into positions where they could be targeted.” Women and girl bombers are instructed to play to gender stereotypes, at times told to “act like a woman” and “be attractive” in order to get close enough to male soldiers to detonate explosives. Boko Haram thus exploits women and girls as suicide bombers to quickly and effectively evolve their tactical response to a growing counterinsurgency. Use of gender tactics enables Boko Haram to launch frequent and effective attacks, both physically—in terms of destruction and ceding of territory— and symbolically. The act of rape, for example, is perceived as a symbolic win because, “in violating women, the opponent nation can be attacked in its ‘heart,’ in its reproductive and its symbolic foundations.” Similarly, the use of women suicide bombers is effective in ways that go beyond the act of bombing. In such patriarchal societies as those in place in Boko Haram-affected countries, the frequency of attacks committed by women and girl bombers challenges the nonviolent perceptions of women and girls. The use of women (in contravention of gender norms) elicits fear and panic in communities, engendering fear of areas that are typically dominated by women (like markets, IDP camps and other high civilian areas). Trust in members of the community increasingly lessens, causing a disruption to the typically communal social structure. Boko Haram’s tactics are also intended to harm men within the community: men’s ability to defend and protect their communities (and “their women”) calls into question their masculinity. In this way, Boko Haram psychologically dominates the targets as well.
What can be done?
Radicalized and/or traumatized women must be rehabilitated, rather than shunned from or shamed by their communities. Attempts at rehabilitating radicalized women will prove futile until women see another alternative as more viable. Those women who are coerced into joining Boko Haram must feel safe to surrender to authorities if sent on missions. Women who join the group willingly must be presented with alternative, pro-social opportunities to support themselves and any dependent children. In the short-term, those rehabilitative programs doing this work must be funded (and their outreach expanded). More such programs must be developed, funded and implemented. In the long-term, the development of these alternatives requires placing greater focus on issues of illiteracy and education, challenging the patriarchy by increasing respect and status of women in the communities and providing opportunities to be a part of the formal government and decision-making structure.
