Restrictions on Women’s Lives

During ISIS rule, every aspect of a woman’s daily life in public was severely restricted. Most obviously, the organization imposed a strict regime of sexual segregation. Both men and women were punished for violating these new rules. The organization also applied a dress code to both men and women, but women bore the brunt of the legislation. Women’s employment opportunities and freedom of movement were also limited. And some women, including underage girls, had to endure forced marriages. In some cases, families chose to marry their daughters to ISIS members, hoping to gain influence and power, but on many other occasions, they were forced to do so.

These difficult conditions were the lot of Sunni Muslim women so long as ISIS remained in power. Yazidi women, on the other hand, were abducted and enslaved en masse.

ISIS sought to justify its repression by reference to Islamic texts. Yet its abuse of women sometimes exceeded even the most extreme interpretations of scripture. According to testimonies given to the ISIS Prisons Museum (IPM) team, women were frequently tortured in ISIS prisons, usually by men. In one testimony, a former female prisoner says she was sexually harassed by ISIS guards. These behaviors have no possible Islamic backing.

Here, we examine documents that focus on restricting women’s freedoms. The documents were all issued by the Hisba Diwan, and they were divided into three categories: the dress code, restrictions on women’s movement and work opportunities, and the special Hisba Women’s Division. We finish with a note on women’s resistance to the ISIS regime.