Washington DC: While terrorism has been a subject of discussion all over the world for years, a recent study highlights how little we know about women terrorists. The first large-scale research project evaluating the characteristics of women involved in jihadism-inspired terrorism finds significant differences between men and women in both their backgrounds and their roles within terrorist groups.

The study highlights potential flaws in existing models of radicalization, threat assessment tools, and counter-terrorism strategies - all of which rely primarily on data regarding male terrorists. "There has only been one other large-scale study to evaluate the characteristics of women terrorists, and none that have looked exclusively at women in jihadism-inspired terrorist groups," said Christine Brugh, lead author of the study published in the Journal of Threat Assessment and Management.