Over the last few years, there has been a growing interest in the role of women in the prevention of violent extremism and within extremist networks. Yet research and scholarship in this area remains limited and a deeper engagement with gender and the role of norms around masculinities and femininities in violent extremism is needed. This special issue includes a selection of both timely and relevant articles by academics and practitioners, mostly from the Global South, focusing on gender and violent extremism particularly in the context of East Africa. The articles were presented at the Global Network on Gender and Responding to Violent Extremism (GARVE) online conference in November 2021. GARVE is an international network involving academics, policymakers and practitioners to promote innovative and critical thinking on violent extremism from a gender perspective and facilitate shared learning.

Gendered responses to the disengagement and reintegration of female defectors are needed to respond to trends that indicate increasing female radicalisation and growth in the recruitment of women into terrorist networks. The development of successful gender-sensitive amnesty policies and reintegration programmes is crucial, not only to prevent recidivism and re-engagement among female defectors, but also to mitigate the risk of further female radicalisation and recruitment at community level. This article, based on research conducted with female Al-Shabaab defectors in Kenya, explores women’s gendered motives for joining the Al-Shabaab network, their experiences within it and their reasons for quitting in order to inform an evidence-based reintegration process. It identifies the gendered nuances involved in recruitment, disengagement and deradicalisation, and it also considers gender-specific aspects of reintegration, highlighting the need to focus on gendered needs, norms and the expectations of female Al-Shabaab defectors and the communities in which they are reintegrated.