The overall overview of the participation and role distribution of women in current extremist movements is the first in the German-speaking world. Radical Islamic, right-wing and left-wing extremist, conspiracy theory and extremist movements with a connection to Turkey will be discussed. The author outlines the significance and change of the concept of gender in socio-political and religious terms. Building on this, she shows how the functionalization of gender in extremist movements exerts gender-specific influences on the engagement of girls and women.