Preventing Violent Extremism - What Has Gender Got to Do with It?:Gendered Perceptions and Roles in Indonesia

Violent extremism and acts of terrorism are a major threat to peace and security globally. To date though the gender dynamics of support for, participation in, and prevention of violent extremism have been largely neglected by psychology, sociology, and political science scholars. Drawing on field research in Indonesia where the threat of violent extremism is pervasive, this article asks how do gendered perceptions and ideologies fuel and spread extremism and violent extremism? It highlights how women resist, counter, and prevent fundamentalist and extremist ideologies and the gendered identities and ideologies associated with them in everyday life in order to bring a gendered perspective into an examination of the causes of violent extremism and efforts to prevent it.