Gender Inequality and Terrorism: An Analysis of the Effects of Socioeconomic Gender Inequality on Terrorism

<p>Studies of terrorism have explored a number of factors thought to drive the phenomenon. Authors often tie socioeconomic development to reducing terrorism. Among structural explanations of terrorism, however, authors generally neglect the effect of gender inequality, though studies show that gender inequality increases the risk of international and civil conflict. Therefore I explore the impact of gender inequality in important socioeconomic issues on terrorism for 143 countries from 1998-2009. I argue that socioeconomic gender inequality reflects poor state capacity, resulting in grievances that contribute to domestic non-suicide and suicide terrorism. I study gender inequality in the areas of education, labor participation, and life expectancy. Results indicate that education and life expectancy inequality increase the risk of terrorism, while labor inequality is unrelated. While the time frame and data used in this study limit generalizability, results indicate that states should provide socioeconomic gender parity to reduce the risk of domestic terrorism.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

M.A.

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Political Science

Year

2010

Author dc:creator

• Dumas, Jennifer

Contributors dc:contributor

• Frank, Richard W.
• Huelshoff, Michael G.
• Stein, Elizabeth

• Domestic Terrorism
• Civil Conflict
• Greed
• Grievances
• State Capacity
• Gender Inequality
• Education
• Life Expectancy
• Labor Participation

Repository record dc:identifier

https://scholarworks.uno.edu/td/1202

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:scholarworks.uno.edu:td-2185