Engagement Policy Towards Repatriated Indonesian Women from Overseas Jihad Battlefronts N W Veronika 1 , D A P E Wishanti 2 1 Coordinating Ministry of Political, Legal, and Security Affairs; Republic of Indonesia 2 International Relations Program, Universitas Brawijaya, Malang, Indonesia 1 nuri.widiastuti@polkam.go.id , 2 e.wishanti@ub.ac.id ABSTRACT Transnational violent attacks and extremism often considered as a men’s landscape. Violent ideology and guns are also distributed globally by groups of men. However, this phenomenon started to shift along with the rise of ISIS. Women emerged as a vital group to propaganda and executive role of terrorist attacks across the globe, given their innocent and passive stereotypes. Following ISIS’ downfall, their followers including male and female, ex- combatants, women and children followers hope to better their conditions by returning to their home countries. Government of Indonesia faces several dilemmas on this, whether to repatriate or not. In addition to that, Indonesian agencies have not fully aware that women could serve both as messenger of extreme ideology propaganda and as the important witnesses to blow up ISIS’ wrongdoings. Current policies are not produced with adequate gendered perspectives and aims. This paper would fill the existing gap of gendered paradigm by inserting the framework of inclusion of gender role in preventing and countering violent extremism policymaking process., especially in preparing for the repatriation of Indonesian women from ex ISIS camps. This paper also identifies the broader role the women plays during their jihad experience overseas and what kinds of threats they can possess while returning home. To conclude, women experts and officers should not be marginalized further in counter extremism efforts at home, as they can tear down psychological and cultural barrier in policymaking inputs. Keywords: Women Returnees, Violent Extremism, Gendered Policymaking Process, Jihad, ISIS 1. INTRODUCTION Women has been excluded from the conversation of international security issues for ages. However, the important position of women in security issues can not be seen as minimal over time. Despite the important role of women in spreading the values in the family, technological developments seemed to expose women to propaganda of violent extremism. Data from the Association of Internet Providers of Indonesia (APJII), noted that in 2017, the internet-users in Indonesia have reached 143.26 million, the equal of 54.68 per cent of its 262 million population[1]. Dian, Dita, Siska, Puji Kuswati (Surabaya Suicide Bomber), and Solimah (Sibolga female bomber) were all exposed to ISIS materials on the internet and communicate with their ISIS-links through several applications as Whatssapp, Facebook and Telegram. Therefore, the massive information and communication technology (ICT) B-SPACE 2019, November 26-28, Malang, Indonesia Copyright © 2020 EAI DOI 10.4108/eai.26-11-2019.2295206