Women in Business, Women in STEM and the Girlhood Club will host a joint self defense class this Saturday at Leander Taekwondo America to teach girls in a safe environment. The social is set for 1 p.m..
“I wanted to set up this event because, as a senior about to go to college, I understand that there may be moments where I need to be extremely aware of my surroundings,” Women in Business President Hasini Mandava said. “Learning to stay safe while navigating the world on my own is incredibly important, so I thought– ‘why not teach these skills to others earlier on, so they too can feel comfortable and gain a sense of security?’”
Women in Business marketing officer Sofia Hernandez Vera holds a first degree black belt at Leander Taekwondo America and coordinated with the dojo plan the event. The class is free, with the participants learning new skills and the dojo testing out its new women’s self defense class.
“Martial arts is something that has helped me grow as a person and I feel like a lot of women could use that,” Hernandez Vera said. “I reached out to each club and suggested a self-defense social in which we could get together, learn and then, if people are interested, possibly join martial arts. The discipline and the skill is very useful and quite frankly, very necessary, especially now. It’s not as popular anymore, and I feel like it should be because it’s a really incredible sport.”
Co-founder of the Girlhood Club Lizzy Hui said that when establishing the club, leaders hoped to plan self defense classes to “spread awareness about women’s safety.”
“It was great when Hasini came to us with this opportunity– we’re like ‘oh my gosh, this is so perfect, this is what we’ve been wanting to do,’” Hui said. “It’s really important to provide this opportunity because women’s safety is so overlooked and their concerns about their safety are so often not validated. So it’s not only something to equip girls with self defense knowledge, but also to spread awareness and validate girls’ feelings of being unsafe.”
Hosting open events allows each organization to grow their visibility.
“Having an event like this helps people find out about our organizations and ask ‘what else do you guys do?’” vice president of Women in Business Srinija Chukkapalli said. “We’re able to make those connections there and then that will translate to other future events.”
Based on Texas Senate Bill 12 and their own club policies, the Girlhood Club, Women in Business and Women in STEM invite people of all genders to join the social.
“Boys are definitely allowed to join,” Chukkapalli said. “However, we focus our marketing efforts on women specifically because self-defense, especially with the current state of the world, is very necessary for women. Growing up, my parents always stopped me from doing things they thought unsafe, whereas they wouldn’t do the same to my brother. Having these skills in your tool belt allow women to feel more confident and do things that maybe they wouldn’t feel so safe to do otherwise.”
Along with teaching attendants defensive skills, Mandava said it will allow girls to “explore something they might be interested in or find a new hobby.”
“One of the things that women get called out for the most is their lack of confidence,” Hernandez Vera said. “People use women’s lack of confidence to their own advantage. If a woman doesn’t look confident enough, then she’s going to be shot down really easily. For me, martial arts boosted my confidence incredibly and I’m really hoping that by bringing these girls in, they not only learn new skills, but they gain confidence in themselves and in what they can do.”
No sign up is needed to join the class. Anyone can walk in if interested after filling out the waiver linked on the Women in Business’ most recent Instagram post @lhs.womeninbusiness
“With this class, I hope girls will feel more comfortable and develop a greater sense of security by learning these very important skills,” Mandava said. “I also want to encourage more girls to take initiative in starting hobbies and getting involved in things they want to try, because I can say from experience– putting yourself out there and trying new things can open doors and get you into rooms you never thought you’d be in.”
