More often than not, suicide bombers are men who volunteer so that their family can obtain permanent welfare benefits from a self-proclaimed liberation organisation. Also common are men who lose their moral and religious compass amid the hustle of the modern global economy and chanced upon the prospect of providential redemption through an act of ‘selfless terrorism’ against ‘infidels’.

Several recent instances in Asia defy this frame of analysis. Women are now reportedly embracing terrorist causes in their search for a secure sense of place amid the array of societal forces and influences at work in their lives.

… Tamara Nair is Research Fellow at the Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies and Alan Chong is Associate Professor at the Centre for Multilateralism Studies, both in the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.