Women trained to defend themselves against attackers

Dozens of women gathered at the Police Officers’ mess at Eve Leary, Georgetown, on Sunday and received specialised training to help defend themselves against attackers.

This training was organised by the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security as part of the activities to commemorate this year’s ‘16 days of activism against Gender-Based Violence’.

Minister of Human Services and Social Security Dr. Vindhya Persaud, who joined the women, said this initiative is a practical one that adds to all of the work her ministry is doing to help protect women and girls.

“It’s not about being violent or abusive in a retaliating-type of way.

“It is about responding and defending yourself, and being very disciplined about it,” Persaud told reporters at the sidelines of the event on Sunday.

By learning six different defensive techniques through the MAXIDO adult self-defence training system, the women who participated should be better able to fend off numerous attacks. They should also be able to free themselves from some bodily restrictions.

Dr. Persaud believes that this initiative should join the other policy and programme interventions her ministry has rolled out because it offers women a practical way of protecting themselves if in harmful situations.

In fact, she believes that if women get this self-defence training, they could be able to save their lives.

And she called on other bodies, be it companies or other organisations, to facilitate similar training activities for women.