Hatsuko Machida is ranked 6th dan in Uechi-ryu. She teaches at the Ageda Women’s Dojo, which is unique in Okinawa for offering women only karate classes. She explained that many of her students had not been allowed to study karate when they were young, so now they embrace the opportunity to do so.
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Women are often at risk of being targeted for violence because they are seen to be statistically smaller and weaker than men. Being able to defend oneself is useful, male or female. Obviously, martial arts training doesn’t immediately result in the ability to defend yourself against all and any attacks. But martial arts training gives you advantages over what you personally could do without training – it doesn’t make you invincible. But then, you don’t have to be invincible… you just have to be a hard target as opposed to a soft target.
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One of the critical aspects of self-defense is learning how to get hit and keep on fighting. Without that experience, people tend to freeze. In self-defense, if someone strikes you in the face, you can’t just freeze like a deer in headlights. Bad guys won’t stop at one hit, and they won’t take pity on you because you’re scared or you have a bloody nose. You HAVE to fight back. Martial arts gives you tools to fight back, and it also trains you to understand that you CAN fight back.
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It used to be that girls and women were frequently socially conditioned to be quiet, meek, and non-assertive. Today’s women are strong, resilient, confident and self-assured. And to fit this image, that is, to be confident enough to handle any situation, martial arts is one of the best things to learn.
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Excelling at something physical is an excellent way to gain confidence. Martial arts are mostly personal, and you get out of it what you put in. Success in the martial arts doesn’t come from being loud, aggressive, or arrogant. Confidence from being genuinely good at something, transfers over into more confidence in other areas of your life.
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“From my own personal experience, women in martial arts, sometimes the higher grades seem less attainable. But we are just as good, we can be just as strong, just as smart. It’s not impossible. It’s working hard, applying yourself to the syllabus and the concepts, and with persistence and dedication, you can achieve those goals. Don’t give up” – Noël Carter 5th dan….. Senior instructor and the highest ranked female karate-ka at the Shuri Dojo

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I support women 100% in the martial arts, and we should all be on an equal footing. Women should never settle for anything less. 
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