Global Women Empowered: An Example of Courage and Strength in the Local Community

As the month draws to a close, perhaps it was easy to overlook that April is Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month. Perhaps it’s easier to overlook it than to talk about it, to look this problem in the eye and say “No more”.

In the US, 1 out of 5 women are sexually assaulted in their lifetime.

What about worldwide? "Violence against women is one of the most widespread of human rights abuses. One out of every three women worldwide will be physically, sexually or otherwise abused during her lifetime. During times of war and conflict, sexual violence is used to terrorize and humiliate women and girls. Survivors often suffer further victimization by family and society.” (http://www.rescue.org/womenandgirls)

With these numbers in mind, it is important for the community to work together to bring about change. The local Global Women Empowered (GWE) initiative out of the Suburban Washington Resettlement Center of the International Rescue Committee in Silver Spring, Maryland, is leading the way by encouraging and supporting self-defense training for their clients. The Global Women Empowered initiative seeks to connect resettled women and their children with the greater community and to introduce them to available resources.

Bartman MMA and Self-defense was honored to work with the local Global Women Empowered (GWE) initiative to present a self-defense workshop for their clients. We believe learning self-defense skills is practical not only for the physical and mental aspects of self-reliance, but can also help women regain a sense of control that may be lost during times of transition or due to past assault experiences.

Courage doesn't mean you don’t feel fear, it means acting even in the face of fear. We applaud all women who take the courageous step to learn more about how to defend themselves. Simply by signing up and walking in the door they are taking the first step in self-defense. That first step is deciding that their safety and security is worth the time and effort, and that they are personally worth defending.

It truly was an honor to share two hours training self-defense techniques with this group of women. I can not imagine what they have faced in their lives, how it must be to seek refuge in a new country. Their strength, resilience and courage were obvious the moment they walked in the door. We were impressed at how quickly they were able to learn the techniques, and how open minded they were to what we had to share with them. We practiced physical techniques for some common situations, and also talked about several of the emotional and mental aspects of defending oneself. 

It can be helpful to acknowledge that this is not a comfortable topic to talk about but that it is valuable and necessary to talk about. The more openly we can discuss assault, including the mechanics of an assault, the more openly we can talk about self-defense, the more women we can help to protect themselves.

And the more women who can stand up for themselves, the greater hope we have for changing the statistics - and perhaps in time, we can also change the behaviors and attitudes that create the problem of assault in the first place.