Empowering students through self-defence

From self-defence classes to workshops on sexual health, a group founded by students is helping Territory students feel safer, as part of a new Women’s Collective at Charles Darwin University (CDU).

Students are taking self-defence classes to protect themselves during confrontations both in intimate relationships and in public through this new group designed to support women to upskill and develop confidence.

“We wanted to help educate students on conflict resolution and what to do in situations when they feel unsafe,” co-founder CDU biomedical science student Alina Biju said.

“This is a safe place for women to come together, where students can meet each other and make friends, learn something new, help keep themselves safe and become more confident.”

The self-defence classes, attended by both women and men, are instructed by professional karate trainers on CDU’s Casuarina Campus.

Another key focus of the Women’s Collective is women in leadership, as they believe currently there are not enough women in senior leadership positions.

“We want to focus on building industrial leadership among women through mentoring programs and networking events,” Ms Biju said.

Since its launch on International Women’s Day this year, the CDU Women’s Collective, which was started to promote gender equality has attracted more than 80 registered members focusing on topics such as women in science, technology, engineering, maths and medicine (STEMM) and professional development.

Last month, the Women’s Collective joined forces with the CDU Students’ Council to co-host the CDU Social Innovation Challenge focusing on the theme gender equality.

The initiatives brought forward initiatives include building a STEMM academy for girls at CDU where young girls from schools could participate in STEMM-related activities to spark their interest in pursuing a career.

On 7 August, CDU Women’s Collective will run a Women in STEMM panellist discussion open to the public.

For more information, visit https://linktr.ee/cduwomenscollective