In 2014, the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group declared a caliphate, a form of Islamic government headed by a caliph, considered to be a successor to the prophet Muhammad. This correlated with a global campaign of terror and 53,000 foreigners from 80 countries travelling to support IS (sometimes also referred to as ISIS).
Domestically, there was also a surge in jihadist activity, with nine terrorist attacks and an estimated 207 Australians emigrating to Syria and Iraq to support IS.
Although only about 17% of emigres were women, their actions at the time were typically assumed to have been motivated by ignorance, coercion or innocently following their husbands’ orders. Many of them ended up in Syria’s internally displaced person’s (IDP) camps.
