In

fact, many women are flocking to the Middle East to join ISIS. Estimates put the number

in the

hundreds. But why? Why are women so eager to join a militant group that’s so publicly

anti- women?

Well, the answer is complicated - in that there isn’t really just one reason. Once

women

successfully join ISIS, they usually cut off ties with their old life, leaving only a trail

of mystery for

their families to try to figure out.

The main recruiting tool ISIS is using to attract women is social media. ISIS is active

on

Twitter and Facebook, and regularly releases online recruiting videos promising women a

chance to “join a new utopian society.” The internet is also used as a tool for marriage,

where

Western women meet ISIS soldiers that they will soon marry to become “jihad brides.”

These

brides help the cause by cooking, cleaning, and raising children - a far cry from the

“utopian”

society they were promised.

Some experts studying the motives of Western women joining ISIS, claim that it may just

be for the adventure of it all. Young women, just like young men, are attracted to traveling

to a

foreign land and fighting in a war. Women who join ISIS write about military training

and learning

how to shoot guns. But ISIS doesn’t use women on the front lines. They use them more

as

police, manning checkpoints and inspecting other Muslim women.

Women are also joining ISIS for religious reasons. ISIS fighters are Sunni Muslims,

and

preach about how their community is being persecuted - which helps influence Sunni women

all around the world. By joining ISIS, they believe that they’re helping a cause that’s

directly

protecting their culture’s way of life. Other Western women feel alienated in their

own country,

for reasons like the French ban on Muslim veils. Women are joining ISIS because they

want to

be on the front lines of a new Islamic state.

Again, there isn’t just one reason these women are joining ISIS. And we’re not exactly

sure

how they’re being treated after joining. Yes, some still update their social media

pages - but

some experts think that ISIS men are the ones that are actually controlling what’s written.

What we do know is how ISIS views women. There’s evidence of sex slavery, rape, and death

sentences. And the perplexing thing is, some women who join ISIS not only agree with this

treatment, but are traveling halfway across the world in order to support it.