After hearing that Muslim women were being attacked and partially strangled with their own hijabs and burkas, in 2017 we developed a specific Personal Safety for Females from Ethnic Minority backgrounds course.
This course has since been provided to members of various groups throughout Scotland including:
• EMpowering Women – a project which supports ethnic minority women between the ages of 25 and 55 in the West of Scotland but particularly focusses on Glasgow and the surrounding areas.
• The Rainbow Muslim Women’s Group – a Falkirk-based organisation aiming to provide social and educational opportunities for women from ethnic minority backgrounds.
• Nari Kallyan Shangho (NKS) – a health and welfare organisation which, since 1987, has been working for South Asian women and their families (Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi) living in Edinburgh.
• The Muslim Women’s Association of Edinburgh – set up at the end of 2005 by a group of Muslim women who found a lack of social activities for Women and their families in Edinburgh.
• Amina – an award-winning organisation, recognised by Muslim communities and key partners within Scotland for its pioneering and responsive approach to addressing key issues and needs of Muslim women to ensure that they are able to fully participate in society without fear of discrimination or inequality.
• Score Scotland – Strengthening Communities for Race Equality Scotland (SCOREscotland) is a voluntary organisation serving the minority ethnic communities in the West of Edinburgh. The organisation strives to eliminate racism in our society by working for and with those who are affected by racial discrimination.
• Edinburgh Chinese Elderly Support Association (ECESA) – offer a range of services for older people from the Chinese community including day care, information and advice on welfare rights and benefits, recreational and social activities etc.
Some of the comments received include:
Amina Muslim Women’s Resource Centre in Glasgow:
“This was a taster session for 2 hours and it was very well planned out. The trainers were open to all questions asked, friendly and accommodating to the women’s requests. No negative comments from anyone, all feedback received was positive. We are keen to book another session for the ladies as well as a session for staff because it was fantastic especially to learn about spotting warning signs before any harm occurs. The women were great at getting involved in practicing moves and the overall atmosphere was calm, engaging and fun with some laughs to ease the tension.
The trainers were great at answering questions about objects in the home for self defence. Learning about what the law says when defending yourself, going over scenarios of being in public or in your home and what the best steps to take was very helpful. Many women were thankful to have been able to know what to do when being attacked by learning about the T zone. They also enjoyed getting to practice moves on the dummy including the Velcro tennis balls. I appreciate that the trainer brought along 2 female trainers too.”
The Rainbow Muslim Women’s Group:
“These were hands-on Personal Safety training sessions in which the participating women were given training to protect themselves and their loved ones in dangerous and often life-threatening situations.
Various dangerous scenarios were discussed in detail along with extensive practice of various manoeuvres that would help women of any build to get out of those tricky situations in the quickest and most efficient way.
A very useful book was also given to each participant containing illustrated manoeuvres which will be helpful in future. The whole atmosphere was very friendly and comfortable and all the queries and reservations about self defence and personal safety were answered.
All the participants felt that they feel more confident in tackling dangerous situations after the training session. A big thank you to Alan Bell and his team for conducting such a successful and informative programme.”
EMpowering Women:
“You really couldn’t improve this course. I learned so much and my confidence has increased. I will pass these skills onto my family.”
“I liked how when the course first started the instructors told us about the Law regarding the skills we were about to gain. And I liked how much more confident it made me feel about protecting myself.”
Our Personal Safety for Females from Ethnic Minority backgrounds course involves personal safety advice in the home, at work and when socialising as well as de-escalating techniques including body language and voice control.
We also cover Hate Crime and teach, if all else fails, practical self defence skills which are practised on our Body Opponent Bag, in pairs and on padded instructors.
Female-only instructors can be used if required and we can include scenarios such as hijab and/or niqab being grabbed and possible limitations of defending oneself whilst wearing a burka.
As with all our courses, our Personal Safety for Females from Ethnic Minority backgrounds course can be adapted to suit the needs of the individual or group. It’s YOUR course for YOUR needs.
These diverse courses are known for their empowering, confidence-building outcomes and we are extremely proud to have had these effects recognised when we were awarded the “Empowerment Champions” award at The Scottish Diversity Awards 2019; The Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service in 2020 for “empowering vulnerable people and saving lives through bespoke Personal Safety training since 1997”; the “Community Organisation – multi-strand” award at The National Diversity Awards 2020; the “Diversity in the Third Sector” award at The Herald & GenAnalytics Diversity Awards 2021 and the ‘Patron‘ Category at the UK Excellence Award 2023.
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