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“They’re not being taken seriously,” Smith said. “It’s inherently dangerous to label people with the same brush.”

It’s inherently dangerous to label people with the same brush

The researchers suggest that while the term jihadi bride may be catchy from a media point of view, the young women who are travelling to Syria see themselves as something more: pilgrims embarking on a mission to develop the region into an Islamic utopia. Many would like to fight alongside male recruits, but the group’s strict interpretation of Islam relegates them to domestic roles.

The primary responsibility for a woman in ISIL-controlled territory may be to be a good wife and a “mother to the next generation of jihadism,” but the study concluded that women are playing a crucial propaganda role for the organization by using social media to bring in more recruits.

“The propaganda is dangerous,” Smith said. “It draws vulnerable or ’at risk’ individuals into extremist ideologies … simplifying world conflicts into good versus evil which allows someone the opportunity of being the ‘hero’ – an empowering narrative for a disenfranchised, disengaged individual.”

Young women are often vulnerable to this kind of rhetoric because they are questioning their identities as they grow into adults. Many of the young women observed said they felt socially and culturally isolated in secular Western society, and saw the region controlled by ISIL as “a safe haven for those who wish to fully embrace and protect Islam,” according to the report.