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Poor, brainwashed and immature: prevalent gender stereotypes in Indonesian preventing violent extremism (PVE) and counterterrorism (CT) efforts

2024/09/10 by Nuri Widiastuti Veronika · 1 voice
Social Sciences · Psychology · #Terrorism, Counterterrorism, and Political Violence #Gender, Security, and Conflict #Migration, Health and Trauma

paper · pdf · doi:10.1080/17539153.2024.2397155

openalex publication_date 2024/09/10 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01

Abstract

The root causes, nature and impact of Indonesian women’s involvement in terrorism has yet to influence Indonesian Counter Terrorism (CT) and Preventing Violent Extremism (PVE) policies. Through a feminist discourse analysis of semi-structured interviews with 28 Indonesian government representatives, this article argues that Indonesian CT and PVE policies continue to rely on gender stereotypes rather than addressing the gendered realities of Indonesian women’s relationship with violent extremism. This reflects broader global discourses regarding women and terrorism but are shaped by unique religious, cultural, political and historical influences within the Indonesian context – the Indonesian gender order. This article finds that the stereotypes – depicting female extremists as immature, brainwashed and poor – lead to a generalised applicability of the one-size-fits-all approach of income generation, overlooking female extremists’ culpability, focusing on protection of “women and children”, neglecting the roles diverse actors in CT and PVE efforts, and reinforcing the Indonesian gender order.

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