Where Are the Women? The Law and Practice of Global Counterterrorism

Counter-terrorism as a set of global norms, practices, and institutions has expanded steadily over the past two decades. The effect of a slew of new norms and a powerful set of interlocking institutions on the substance and implementation of international law has been considerable. This chapter will address the significance of the rise of a global architecture on counter-terrorism for women, exploring the masculinity and gendered nature of these institutions and processes, the representation and influence of women on the normative and institutional counter-terrorism architecture, and some of the regulatory consequences for women flowing from the law and practice of global counter-terrorism. The chapter primarily addresses the experiences of women and girls, accepting that men and boys also experience gender stereotyping in the counter-terrorism context and that masculinities and femininities also shape roles, expectations, and harms in this arena. Moreover, the social construction of gender binaries does not fully encompass the ways in which sexual minorities and LGBTQI persons experience the impact of counter-terrorism and countering (violent) extremism law and practice. An intersectional approach to counter-terrorism measures demonstrates how experiences of discrimination and human rights abuses compound as determined by other social identities, including race, ethnicity, religion, ability, age, sexuality, and beyond.