Understanding the role of women in extremism is in many ways challenging. There is a tendency to think about women as more passive and inactive in extremism rather than just as active as their male counterparts. But first-line practitioners have often noted that women and girls play an important role in every type of violent extremism. Conversely, there is also the view that women have a unique role to play as a powerful, countervailing and positive force against violent extremism. Women can be unique agents of change within society, exercising considerable power over radicalised individuals in their roles as mothers and as wives. Nowhere is this challenge and opportunity more evident than with ISIL’s recruitment of women.