Every woman questions her ability to confront a dangerous situation. What if I’m the target of sexual harassment, assault or even rape? Am I strong enough to defend myself? Fear and anxiety about personal safety persists daily in the minds of millions of women and dis-empowers them. But women’s safety is relative to situational circumstances, and there is no one perfect solution for a woman to protect herself from violence.
In addition to Sayfty’s educational initiatives on social media – #SayftyChat, #ZeroTolerance, #VoiceoftheWeek, and “I Feel Unsafe When”campaigns – we also empower girls and women through self defense workshops and share stories about inspirational individuals who have overcome adversity in their personal lives in order to impact social change.
Self Defense Workshops: The mere belief in being able to defend oneself is self fulfilling. If a woman believes she can defend herself, she will, and if she believes she is incapable of defending herself, then that also is true.
While being physically strong is helpful, it is not always physical self-defense that gets a woman out of a dangerous situation. Quick thinking and problem solving are important too. In many cases rapists or aggressors are able to get away because fear makes a woman freeze, and renders her incapable of responding effectively and immediately. On the other hand, In cases of domestic violence, women are unable to see ways out of their situation or are unable to create a safety plan in their lives.
Sayfty has partnered with renowned and certified self-defense trainers in India to provide your institution Safety Workshops. Trainers work through sharing principles instead of general strategies since we know that each woman’s context, culture and situation is different. Rather than giving women solutions these workshops are aimed at instilling confidence in women.
Meet the People Extraordinaire Series: Sayfty aims to empower women and girls through storytelling. We highlight unique women and men who have challenged stereotypes, fought against prejudice, and broken barriers in their personal and professional lives. The people we feature are not just gender-sensitive but also extremely resilient and passionate in their endeavour to support the cause they believe in; be it education, health; human trafficking, or sports. We want our readers to see themselves as having the potential to reach their dreams like these People Extraordinaire who are giving back to the community by mentoring, educating, sharing knowledge and experience and inspiring future leaders.
Dancer and art for change activist, Mallika Sarabhai; strategic advisor to Assistant Secretary General, Ravi Karkara; pioneering Somali activist in the struggle to abolish Female Genital Mutilation, Dame Edna Adnan Ismail, are only a few of the incredible people featured on our series.