The ongoing incorporation of women into the Islamic State (IS) is unlike what any other jihadi organization in
the recent history of jihadism has attempted to achieve. An important question is therefore: how does IS reconcile
its ultra-conservative Islamic narrative of women, with the organization’s incorporation of women? By analyzing
primary data collected through fieldwork in the Middle East, the author of this article argues that, through
the platform of ‘gender-segregated parallel institutions,’ IS has established a mechanism by which Muslim
women are being effectively incorporated into its envisaged Islamic State. Through this mechanism, IS has
inspired a substantial number of women from around the globe by advocating an alternative narrative of divine
redemption to the one of secular emancipation of women.