By Benadeta Mwaura - Reporter
Kenya, July 22, 2026 -For years, conversations around Al-Shabaab have largely centred on armed militants, bomb attacks and cross-border terrorism. But a new report is shifting attention to a less visible aspect of the extremist group, the women who sustain its operations from behind the scenes, often while enduring abuse, coercion and severe social isolation.
The report, Women Inside Al-Shabaab, published by Wargelin Analytica, paints a complex picture of women as both victims and operational enablers within one of East Africa's deadliest militant organisations.
Among those highlighted are foreign women from Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda and Tanzania, many of whom entered the organisation through marriage or family ties before becoming trapped inside a highly controlled system that offers little protection from abuse.
Rather than serving merely as wives of fighters, the report says women have become deeply embedded across almost every non-combat function within the organisation.
According to the report, foreign women experience some of the harshest living conditions inside Al-Shabaab.
Unlike Somali women, they have little clan protection, almost no influence within local communities and remain under constant surveillance by the organisation.
"Their living conditions are among the harshest," the report states.
Many suffer chronic economic hardship, social isolation, language barriers and complete dependence on their husbands or assigned support networks for survival. Their children also face stigma because of their foreign origins, making integration into Somali communities extremely difficult.
Perhaps more disturbing is the report's finding that many complaints involving domestic violence, forced marriages, child abuse and financial neglect are routinely ignored.
Leadership, researchers found, intervenes only when disputes threaten the group's operational security.
As a result, many women remain trapped in abusive relationships with virtually no legal or social recourse.
Contrary to popular perception, the report argues that women perform functions critical to the organisation's survival.
They recruit new members, organise ideological sessions, facilitate marriages between young women and fighters and provide religious instruction designed to reinforce loyalty.
Women also manage safe houses, move weapons, collect intelligence, transport explosives, conceal operatives and support clandestine operations inside government-controlled territories.
The researchers say female operatives frequently accompany intelligence officers because they attract less suspicion from security agencies, allowing militants to move more freely through urban areas.
Although women rarely participate in conventional combat, the report documents instances where female operatives have been deployed in suicide missions because they are less likely to be searched or profiled.
Beyond intelligence work, women are increasingly being used to sustain the group's financial operations.
According to the report, they help move cash, conceal operational funds, manage mobile money accounts, register SIM cards, purchase land and operate businesses that allegedly serve as fronts for laundering money.
Women are also involved in retail businesses, import-export trade and gold transactions, allowing the group to disguise the origin of its finances while blending into ordinary commercial activities.
More from Kenya
The report further reveals that rising battlefield casualties have expanded women's responsibilities.
Many now serve as nurses, first-aid workers and emergency responders in areas controlled by Al-Shabaab, while others transport medicine, food, fuel and livestock to frontline fighters.
Women also escort injured militants into government-controlled hospitals under civilian cover, reducing the likelihood of detection by security agencies.
Girls growing up inside territories controlled by Al-Shabaab face another challenge.
While basic religious education is permitted, researchers found that secondary education is uncommon because many girls are married off from around the age of 15.
Marriage often ends formal education, redirecting girls into domestic responsibilities, motherhood or organisational support roles.
The report also notes that educated women are rarely promoted into leadership positions despite possessing language skills or technical expertise.
Instead, they are largely confined to translation, propaganda, administration and teaching roles.
The findings carry particular significance for Kenya, which has experienced years of cross-border recruitment by Al-Shabaab, especially in coastal and northeastern counties.
Security experts have long warned that focusing counterterrorism efforts exclusively on armed fighters risks overlooking the wider support structures that sustain extremist organisations.
The report argues that women should no longer be viewed only as victims or passive participants.
Instead, governments should recognise the complex roles they occupy while designing rehabilitation programmes that distinguish between those coerced into the organisation and those who actively facilitate its operations.
At the same time, researchers caution that foreign women—including Kenyans—remain among the most vulnerable people inside the organisation because they lack clan protection, freedom of movement and access to justice.
The report concludes that understanding women's roles is essential for developing more effective counterterrorism policies, financial disruption strategies and rehabilitation programmes across the Horn of Africa.
It warns that ignoring the operational functions performed by female networks leaves significant parts of Al-Shabaab's support infrastructure poorly understood and therefore more difficult to dismantle.