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Profile of a Female Suicide Bomber: Motive to Kill Same as in Men

by Tina Kells | April 24, 2009 at 06:56 pm

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Another suicide bombing in Baghdad has killed 58 people and the bombers in this case were two females. This is yet another example of the increasingly common phenomenon of the female suicide bomber. The profile of a female suicide bomber is a topic of much curiosity and debate.

Since 1981, when female suicide bombings were first identified and studied, experts have learned that women are driven to kill for surprisingly similar reasons to their male counterparts. Unlike other forms violent behaviors where there are notable gender differences, the reasons for becoming a suicide bomber appear to be gender neutral.

Two female suicide bombers struck a major Shiite shrine in Baghdad, killing at least 58 people amid a brutal spike of attacks nine weeks before US troops are to withdraw from Iraqi cities.

At least 140 people were killed within 24 hours as suicide attackers targeted areas packed with civilians in Baghdad and a restaurant filled with Iranian pilgrims northeast of the capital.

What leads women to kill themselves in the name of war? Experts will tell you it is quite a predictable pathology that leads women to become suicide bombers. In a database of all known female suicide bombings since 1981 the Chicago Project on Suicide Terrorism reached the conclusion that the profile of a female suicide bomber is very similar to that of a male.

This research led to a clear conclusion: the main motives and circumstances that drive female suicide attackers are quite similar to those that drive men. Still, investigating the dynamics governing female attackers not only helps to correct common misperceptions but also reveals important characteristics about suicide terrorism in general.

To begin with, there is simply no one demographic profile for female attackers. From the unmarried communists who first adopted suicide terrorism to expel Israeli troops from Lebanon in the 1980s, to the so-called Black Widows of Chechnya who commit suicide attacks after the combat deaths of their husbands, to the longtime adherents of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam separatist movement in Sri Lanka, the biographies of female suicide attackers reveal a wide variety of personal experiences and ideologies.

Likewise, while stories of young, psychologically disturbed women being coerced into their attacks makes for compelling news (and rightly emphasizes the barbarity of the terrorist organizations), they represent a small minority of cases. For example, female suicide attackers are significantly more likely to be in their mid-20s and older than male attackers.

Additionally, claims of coercion are largely exaggerated.

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Roy C

at 19:56 on April 24th, 2009

Good story. My wife loves the TV show "Snapped". The motives of women killing in relationships does not seem any different than the males' stories we watch on other programs.

Hatred, greed, cold psychopathic view of life: just like men.

Here in the geo-political world, women want to get the same goals accomplished, may have the same attitudes and values, and end up using the same strategies.

albertacowpoke

at 19:58 on April 24th, 2009

Female suicide bombers like their male counterparts are driven by hate and religion. I can.t recall how many times I heard Serb, Bosnian or Croat women talk about raising sons so they can fight agains the other ethnic groups. The fact that women can and do perform suicide bombings should be no surprise.

tallison

at 00:51 on April 25th, 2009

There used to be no suicide bombing earlier during Saddam regime. U.S would destroy the world to prempt any supposed danger to itself. For every single death in Iraq and Afghanistan and Sudan U.S is directly responsible. It has created the circumstances and environment overtly and covertly. U.s cannot fool the world with all its pretexts and deception.

generaldecay

at 01:12 on April 25th, 2009

Excellent story. Similarly, in general terms the motivation of women to commit crime is the same as that of men. (And not due to sexual deviance as it was once thought!)