New president urges women to learn karate
India's first female president urged women to learn martial arts such as karate for self-defence, a week after new figures showed a sharp jump in the number of rapes.
Pratibha Patil told a women's conference that laws must be stricter on punishing sex offenders, but that women should also fight back.
"Self-defence is the best defence," President Patil said.
"And one important step in this direction is imparting physical education - like judo and karate - for self-defence to girls from a very early age so as to make them physically strong and to build up self-confidence to face the challenges of life,"she said.
The 72-year-old president's comments came after a spate of rape and molestation complaints by female tourists this month, and attacks on Indian women by a drunken mob during New Year's celebrations.
Delhi's local government vowed to introduce tough laws to deal with sex offenders in the national capital, which topped the police report with 4134 attacks in 2006, making it the most dangerous city for women in India.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23070147-12377,00.html
For years I have always felt that females should be encouraged to train in self defense and martial arts. Though traditionally, the fighting arts are generally associated with males, it is the women who need it the most.
ReplyDeleteHere are some reasons:
1-Women are frequently the victims of physical violence, as they are seen as "easy targets".
2-Women are generally smaller, and weaker in terms of muscle strength compared to the average male. Martial arts almost completely neutralizes that factor.
3-This would build confidence and a healthy self image for women. It would set the stage for success in all areas of life, in addition to the successes they obtain through their training while obtaining certain goals, such as earning a belt, or rank.
4-In the martial arts, women are every bit as good, if not sometimes even better than the men when it comes to executing techniques, so it makes sense they be trained.
Like the President of India, I believe that empowering women through physical training in the martial arts can make profound, and positive changes in society.