What every woman ought to know

[Nungali]

Edith Margaret Garrud (1872–1971) was among the first female professional martial arts instructors in the Western world. She trained the Bodyguard unit of the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) in jujutsu self-defence techniques.

 

She married William Garrud, a physical culture instructor specializing in gymnastics, boxing and wrestling.

 

Beginning in 1908, Edith also taught classes for the "Suffragettes Self-Defence Club", which was only open to members of the Suffrage movement. From 1911, these classes were based at the Palladium Academy, a dance school in Argyll Street.

 

In 1913, the Asquith government instituted the so-called Cat and Mouse Act whereby Suffragette leaders on hunger strikes could legally be released from jail in order to recover their health and then re-arrested on the original charge. The WSPU responded by establishing a thirty-member, all-woman protection unit referred to as "the Bodyguard", the "Jiujitsuffragettes" and the "Amazons", to protect fugitive suffragettes from re-arrest. Edith Garrud became the very first trainer of the Bodyguard and taught them jujutsu and the use of Indian clubs as defensive weapons. Their lessons took place in a succession of secret locations to avoid the attention of the police

 

The Bodyguard fought a number of well-publicised hand-to-hand combats with police officers who were attempting to arrest their leaders, most famously during the so-called "Battle of Glasgow" on 9 March 1914 and during the WSPU "Raid on Buckingham Palace" on 24 May 1914.

On several occasions they were also able to stage successful escapes and rescues, making use of tactics such as disguise and the use of decoys to confuse the police. A number of these incidents are described in the unpublished memoir of Bodyguard member Katherine "Kitty" Marshall, titled "Suffragette Escapes and Adventures". Journalists coined the term "suffrajitsu" - a portmanteau of "suffragette" and "jiujitsu" - to describe their techniques of self-defence, sabotage and subterfuge.

 

In January 1911, Edith Garrud choreographed the fight scenes for a polemic play entitled What Every Woman Ought to Know

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edith_Margaret_Garrud

 

 

@ 2:26    

Edited August 10, 2020 by Nungali

[rocala]

A fantastic post. Thank you for sharing this.

[Nungali]

4 hours ago, rocala said:

A fantastic post. Thank you for sharing this.

 

   Its part of my ' history of fantastic women that changed things '

 

You might like this as well .

 

http://www.idacraddock.com/intro.html

 

        http://www.idacraddock.com/public.html

[silent thunder]

These women in Kenya working together are shifting anciently held patriarchal inertias in their communites... while protecting what they love.  True high skill.

 

Team Lioness: An All Woman Wildlife Ranger Anti-Poaching Force in Kenya.

 

Quote

KAJIADO, Kenya (AP) — On the sweeping plains at the foot of Mount Kilimanjaro, a group of female wildlife rangers is making history by defying patriarchal norms that have been passed down for centuries, patrolling against poachers instead of doing household chores.

 

The eight ethnic Maasai women known as “Team Lioness” are part of 76 community-based rangers guarding leopards, elephants, giraffe and other wildlife in the 147,000-hectare (363,000-acre) area surrounding Kenya’s Amboseli National Park.

 

Team Lioness members say they overcame community resistance to women working outside the home and hope their precedent-setting example will help shift mindsets.

 

“First, the community believed I will not make it because they believe I am weak. Our work in the community was to give birth and do chores,” said 24-year-old Purity Amleset during a recent foot patrol.

Dozens of elephants grazed behind her in swampland with Africa’s tallest peak, snow-capped Mt. Kilimanjaro, in the distance. The animals roam freely between the Maasai-owned protected area outside the park and the park itself.

 

“They thought that this is only meant for men so they have been discouraging us ... but we told them, ‘No, we will do it and we will make it,’” Amleset said.

 

 

Edited August 14, 2020 by silent thunder
fixed link

[natural]

5 minutes ago, silent thunder said:

These women in Kenya working together are shifting anciently held patriarchal inertias in their communites... while protecting what they love.  True high skill.

 

Team Lioness: An All Woman Wildlife Ranger Anti-Poaching Force in Kenya.

 

 

 

 

Thanks!