Extremism as Mainstream: Implications for Women, Development & Security in the MENA/Asia Region

  • Inclusive Civil Society Action Network and the Association for Women's Rights in Development

Summary

In 2013, ICAN, in partnership with the MIT Center for International Studies and the Association for Women’s Rights in Development (AWID), hosted a two-day roundtable to better understand rising religious extremism from a gendered and grounds-up perspective, highlighting the essential yet often overlooked implications for women and the efforts of civil society on the ground. The meeting included civil society practitioners, scholars, and journalists with expertise from Canada, Pakistan, Malaysia, Egypt, Yemen, Tunisia, the United States, and Iran. The roundtable addressed a range of questions, including: Who supports and funds extremist movements and why? Why are women targeted? Do the sponsors of Salafi and other extremist movements condone this, or is the repression of women an unintended consequence of the extremists’ geopolitical goals? Why are young men, and entire communities, so susceptible to regressive social messaging? How are women’s movements responding to the threats?

Citation

Inclusive Civil Society Action Network, and Association for Women’s Rights in Development. Extremism as Mainstream: Implications for Women, Development & Security in the MENA/Asia Region. Issue brief. 2014

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