One move turns into one movement
CHARTWELL – To help the fight against women abuse, 1st For Women insurance has launched the '1 Move 1 Movement' campaign.
As gender-based violence remains a national talking point, it has become clearer than ever that South Africa needs to find ways to fight the scourge and keep women safe.
Insurance company 1st for Women has joined the fight with the creation of the
1 Move 1 Movement campaign as part of their work with the For Women Foundation, connected to the business and which works to help women affected by abuse to get access to resources and other help. The campaign hopes to achieve two things: Firstly, to teach as many women as possible a simple, easy-to-remember self-defence move to use in a life-and-death situation, while secondly using that learning experience to inspire women to get behind a national effort to save thousands of other women.
“South Africa is the rape capital of the world,” explained Casey Rousseau from 1st For Women during a special workshop held for members of the media on 7 November. “We’ve been fighting women abuse since 2005 and one of the biggest challenges is that attitudes [towards women and which create a society where women abuse is rife] do not change overnight.
“Therefore, women need to know how to keep themselves safe and unharmed in any life-threatening situation.”
That’s where Mark Grobbelaar and his organisation Women INPowered (WIP) comes in. At the media event, Grobbelaar went through the basics of his company’s self-empowerment presentation, discussing the ‘dos and don’ts’ of keeping safe, what criminals need in order to attempt a violent crime, and explaining that self-defence in the traditional understanding is not a viable technique unless you are practising it for hours every day. “If you find yourself in a life-threatening situation, there are only three human reactions – fight, flight and freeze,” Grobbelaar explained.
He added that flight is always the best option to start with as removing yourself from danger should always be your first response. If that’s not possible, you need to think about your other options. “If you choose to fight, you must make sure that whatever you do immobilises the attacker, otherwise it’ll anger him. If you choose to flight, try and get away from the situation as fast as possible. Freezing is not a good option. You need to be proactive and know that you have a tool in your armoury that could be used to ‘flight’ a life-threatening situation.”
He then taught participants the one move, a simple punching technique that goes as follows:
• Your position is in front of the attacker
• You need to stand as close as possible
without being in the attackers’ space
• Feet should be placed a shoulder-width
apart
• Hips should be at a 45-degree angle to the
attacker
• If he is behind you, turn around to face him
by whatever means possible
• Use your whole body, swivel hips and
shoulders and punch through.
“If you hit hard enough, you could kill someone,” he warned.
He added, however, that having the knowledge that they could fight back empowered women to have a choice when faced with a dangerous situation. “Once you learn the move, you can then choose how you respond in a situation. It’s a hard choice, but now it’s one you can make for yourself.”
Both Grobbelaar and Rousseau hope that once women learn the move and become empowered themselves, they then turn their efforts to making a pledge on the For Women website to help empower others.
“It is our hope that the 1 Move and our For Women movement, empowers women to achieve their potential in every sphere of social and productive life by eradicating the fear of crime,” Rousseau concluded.
Details: To learn the move and join the movement, visit www.for-women.co.za; to learn more about Women INPowered, visit www.inpowered.co.za
Related Article:
https://www.citizen.co.za/fourways-review/206220/the-heart-of-self-defence-2/
