Black widows

• Author: Stella Filipovi? ?ango
• Position: Sarajevo University for Criminalistics, Criminology and Security
• Pages: 257-263

257

Vol. 3 No. 3

January, 2018

Balkan Journal of Interdisciplinary Research

IIPCCL Publishing, Graz-Austria

ISSN 2410-759X

Acces online at www.iipccl.org

Black widows

Stella Filipović Šango

Sarajevo University for Criminalistics, Criminology and Security

Abstract

Several leading researchers identied some important factors explaining why terrorist groups

use women to conduct suicide aacks and perform critical operations as part of their overall

strategy. This can include tactical advantages: increased number of operatives, increased

media aention and psychological impact.

The incident in the Dubrovka theater in Moscow in 2002, where forty-one Chechen terrorists,

including 19 women, held about 800 people for three days as hostages until Russian forces

entered the building, moved the Black Widows into the spotlight as terrorists with the most

suicide aacks in Russia.

Keywords: terrorism, security, female suicide bombers, Chechnya, Palestine, Black Widows.

Introduction

The circumstances that bring women to commit suicide bombings are not simple

and easy to understand, and for many years now they have been a heavily debated

topic. The question of why women are ghting, or more importantly, turning to these

extreme forms of violence is interesting, especially when one considers the extremely

patriarchal nature of the societies these women come from. The appearance of a female

bomber is most intriguing, given that such women pose a challenge to conventional

Islamic terms of female inferiority and the Arab cultural demands to restrict women

to their homes.

Every case has its own distinctiveness but most analysts agree that women's

participation in suicide aacks show a radicalization of a certain conict. The main

question is why is it so? Why are we not surprised when a man commits remarkable

acts of violence, but when it comes to women, we are? Through dierent centuries

and cultures women are traditionally celebrated mainly because of their ability to

give and nurture life, and not for the ability to take it. Even today we see women as

the beer half of mankind. But female suicide bombers completely destroyed the

myth in which women are naturally prone to moderation, compromise and tolerance.

A small number of women took part in Jihad in the early years of Islam, but this

practice was later abandoned. However, some hadiths allow it, and the Sharia law

says that women can participate in Jihad when, for example, a Muslim state is under

aack. In recent years, women have voluntarily opted to take part in a number of

terrorist groups: from the Black Widows of Chechnya to the Kurdish rebels to the

martyrs of Hamas and Islamic State.

Leading researchers have identied the factors that explain why these groups use

women to commit suicide aacks. They can be tactical advantages: increased number

of operatives, media aention and psychological impact. The tactical advantages are

that women are usually less suspect. In 1991, Rajiv Gandhia, Indias former prime

minister was killed by Thenmuli Rajaratnam, a member of the Liberation Tigers of