Women’s participation in terrorist acts increased dramatically during the 1980s and 1990s, when women joined terrorist groups associated with ethno-separatist struggles. Female terrorists have been much less involved in religious terrorist groups, mainly due to the religious extremist position that women should remain in traditional roles. The article begins by offering a brief history of the female involvement in modern terrorism and an analysis of the different ideologies that operate to align female terrorists with secular groups instead of religious groups. Times are changing, however, and female terrorists are being welcomed into the fold of religious terrorist groups in increasing numbers. This is accomplished, in part, through the concept of martyrdom. The author analyzes the way in which two radical Islamic groups, one of which is secular and one of which is religious (Hamas and Islamic Jihad), have used rhetorical strategies to confer the martyrdom status on females, thus legitimizing them as participants in violence. Despite the differences between secular and religious extremist groups, the rhetorical strategies they use to legitimize female violence are similar and in large part depend on reproducing the traditional concept of gender roles, which is necessary to sustain popular support for the culture of female martyrdom. The author calls for more research on female involvement in terrorism and other political violence. Notes, references