Global & Digital Comprehensive Security Blog

Supporting Women’s Safety: We Can All Be Allies

Written by Global Guardian Team | May 21, 2021 11:00:00 AM

Women’s safety is sometimes viewed as a women’s issue, when in fact it’s a human issue that affects us all. And it’s important that we all take steps to reduce the disproportionate amount of violence against women, whether through awareness, action, or education. Here we discuss how Global Guardian Academy’s new Women’s Safety Awareness Training is providing women and their allies with the resources to be more prepared and aware—and ultimately more confident—when facing unsafe situations.

Nearly one in three women have been subjected to violence in their lifetime, according to UN Women. While that number alone is staggering, the majority of crimes against women go unreported, making the percentage of women who have faced violence actually even greater. And behind that statistic is a real issue—one that we should all support: The safety and security of women. The unfortunate truth is that most women do not feel safe even while performing the most basic tasks, like walking home, exercising, taking public transportation, or traveling. But women have a right to feel safe in their day-to-day lives.

Global Guardian Academy’s newest e-learning course is aimed at doing just that: Helping women to feel safe by providing the tools, resources, and knowledge to be more confident, aware, and prepared when faced with a range of situations, like abuse, harassment, and assault. Course creator, and founder and CEO of Greylake Training Solutions, Meredith Moore explains, “The Women’s Safety Awareness training is designed to empower women with confidence, decisiveness, and the skills to determine if and when a situation or person might become a threat. The program is also beneficial for men to understand the scope and scale of the threats women face, learn how to support women’s safety, and advocate to end violence against women.” 

Top 3 Course Takeaways

1

A Safe Mindset and Situational Awareness

Goosebumps, the shudders, hair standing up on the back of your neck—no matter how your body manifests it, we’ve all experienced a heightened feeling of unease in certain situations. It’s important to listen to your intuition and take action, as Meredith notes in a recent episode of the podcast We Should Talk About That. In the episode, podcast co-creator, Jessica Buchanan shared her own personal story of survival after she was kidnapped and held hostage in Somalia. In telling the details of that event, Jessica noted her failure to listen to her intuition—a common thread among unsafe situations, big or small, women around the world have experienced.

“A central theme of this course is knowing how to trust and inform your intuition. Our intuition is a huge part of what keeps us safe, yet we often rationalize, minimize, and deny our gut feelings. This program gives women insight on how to inform their intuition by observing, identifying, and describing the actions and behaviors that make them uncomfortable—giving them the self-assurance to make informed decisions and keep safe,” Meredith says.

2

Personal SAfety Principles

Did you know there are five personal safety principles that will increase your safety no matter where you are? Not only is it important to learn these five principles, but also to define a simple personal safety plan that can be used in various situations.

After completing the course, Global Guardian Account Manager Shannon Reilly noted, “This course served as a powerful reminder that there are steps I can take to not only protect myself in the event of an attack or unwanted advance, but also to preemptively deter threats to my wellbeing. This interactive course both challenged and corrected my preconceived notions of how to best maintain a safe mindset by cultivating proper personal safety skills.”

Defining a simple plan for day-to-day situations will allow you to be prepared should an unwanted advance arise when out for a walk, getting your car from a parking garage, and even at home or with your children. Yes, even kids can and should learn about situational awareness and personal safety principles.

3

self-defense techniques

Self-defense can be mastered from the comfort of your home office. Through video demonstrations, Martial Artist and Self-Defense Instructor Tara Arthur illustrates several verbal and physical self-defense skills, including the most important one, assertiveness.

“The self-defense videos are especially educational as they showcase simple yet highly effective tactics that I could utilize at a moment’s notice. These self-defense tips are empowering in application because they instill confidence in every user, regardless of age, gender, sexual orientation, disability, color, national origin, race, or ethnicity. The Women’s Safety Awareness Course empowers anyone to take control of a situation and wield the tools needed to ensure personal safety,” Shannon adds.

Again, women's safety is not a women’s issue, it’s a human’s issue. And this course provides a step in making us all safer and more aware.

To learn more about the Women’s Safety Awareness Training and purchase the course, click here.

About Global Guardian Academy

Global Guardian Academy is designed to offer both customizable and ready-made online education programs that empower and inform, giving you and your employees the peace of mind and skills to operate, travel, and live safely.

In partnership with Greylake Training Solutions, Global Guardian Academy specializes in online courses that address your specific organizational or individual needs. Click here to view all educational program offerings.

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