This is the picture which has emerged from a new report into the lives of women who leave their comfortable lives in the West to join the fight for Islamic State.
Researchers Carolyn Hoyle, Alexandra Bradford and Ross Frenett analysed the accounts of women from Britain, The Netherlands, Canada and Austria.
Their report also analyses the ambitions of women and fighters.
Their report also analyses the ambitions of women and fighters.
And it examines the idea the motive that some move to IS-controlled areas to bag an attractive ‘hipster jihadi’, researcher Ross Frenett told UK newspaper The Telegraph.
He said some would be wives would be attracted to the “image of the jihadist soldier with the wind in his hair”.
The report warns that in addition to heavenly rewards, there are other motives for seeking a fighter husband.
“The imagery of a lion and a lioness, of finding a brave and noble husband, is prevalent among female supporters of ISIS,” it says.
It also details how a sense of identity, which they don’t feel they have in the west, also helps shape the search for their fighter husbands.
The women’s accounts also reveal what they felt leaving their families behind, their day-to-day lives as well as a glimpse into death and martyrdom.
As well as revealing homesickness with posts of missing their families, some have revealed that life since moving is full of domestic duties.
One woman revealed: “The best thing for a women is to be a righteous wife and to raise righteous children.’
Women also need either a male chaperon, or other women to travel with.
But they are also given monthly food supplies, as well as a monthly allowance while married women and their husbands get a house.
And while some receive gifts from the spoils of war, the women reveal life isn’t easy.
One woman writes: “Electricity is unreliable and internet access can be patchy. You can have electricity most of the time or you can rarely have it — it just depends upon your circumstance — but you have to be prepared for not having your mobile charged or their (sic) not being light (alhumdulilah [thanks be to God] for battery powered lights and candles) and maybe even learn how to wash your clothes by hand since you really cannot depend on the washing machine here.”
Life on the streets is also hard, shops never open during prayer time and many people carry guns.
Maybe even learn to wash your clothes by hand omg 
