Women’s Self Defence Network Wāhine Toa Media Release

‘Skills for Safety’ research report released

Significant new research being released this week shows how successful defence courses for girls and women can be when taught by specialist trained and accredited female self-defence teachers with a clear empowerment approach.

Associate Professor Jan Jordan and Dr Elaine Mossman of Victoria University of Wellington have recently completed a substantial research project involving 2,731 and 115 New Zealand women and girls who attended self defence courses run by the Women’s Self Defence Network Wāhine Toa (WSDN-WT) network in the first half of 2015.

The researchers also undertook 51 interviews with a range of school and community key informants, women’s course participants and self defence teachers in a mix of rural/urban locations and communities with different ethnic make-up to assess the outcomes of the courses.

The research findings will be launched on April 6th by Justice Minister Amy Adams at Parliament.

WSDN-WT network chair Alison Broad described the research into self defence programmes designed to prevent violence against women and girls in New Zealand as very welcome and timely.

She says the research produced robust evidence that the WSDN self defence courses assisted participants to:

• recognise sexual and family violence and abuse;

• understand that violence against girls and women is not okay (and never their fault);

• learn clear strategies for recognising, resisting and responding to specific violent/abusive events, disclosing abuse and seeking help, supporting other people who are victims of violence and abuse;

• feel empowered and have their self-esteem enhanced.

The research also found many examples of self defence skills being retained and put into practice when required.

“WSDN-WT has put much work into the development of high-quality tailored self defence programmes and into ensuring a nationwide network of well-trained specialist self defence teachers to teach these programmes” says Ms Broad.

“We were heartened to see that the research findings about the key factors of most critical importance to effectiveness identified the same elements, alongside the importance of a strong committed organisation with a clear core philosophy.”

The Women’s Self Defence Network Wāhine Toa (WSDN-WT) was formed in the late 1980s to empower women and girls with knowledge and skills to help keep safe from violence and abuse.

“We have worked very hard to ensure that we are providing professional and relevant courses that help to save lives and prevent attacks on girls and women. It is immensely significant for us to see independent research that shows our work is highly effective for the women and girls we have reached,” says Ms Broad.

Over the past 20 years, the Women’s Self Defence Network Wāhine Toa has reached more than 125,000 girls through the Girls' Self Defence Project, and thousands of New Zealand women.

“These research findings give kudos to the government for funding Girls’ Self Defence for almost 20 years, and for funding programmes for targeted groups of women for the past three years. We look forward to building on our work with other groups and agencies committed to the safety and wellbeing of vulnerable women and girls, and to reaching more girls and women throughout Aotearoa New Zealand,” she says.

ENDS

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