ISIS Files & Women and Extremism: Combating Jihadist Terror - Series 2 - Episode 17

In this episode of the Combating Jihadist Terror podcast series (2) Anthony Richards is joined by Dr Devorah Margolin, Director of Strategic Initiatives and a Senior Research Fellow at the Program on Extremism, George Washington University. Alongside her work at GWU, Dr Margolin is also a senior investigator with the ISIS Files Project, and the start of this podcast features a discussion about some of the findings that have been unearthed; including interesting insights into how, even for fundamentalists, pragmatism must sometimes trump religion. Dr Margolin and Dr Richards then discuss the role of women and children in violent Islamist groups, the subject of Dr Margolin’s recent PHD thesis, and in particular how women’s roles are conceptualised by these groups. Finally, Dr Margolin gives a fascinating insight into her work looking at women who took part in, and “took ownership of”, the Capitol Hill riots on January 6, 2021.