The Centre for Integrated Health Programmes (CIHP) has tasked women on acquiring self-defence skills to safeguard themselves from harm or abuse.

The centre gave the charge at a workshop it organised through its ‘Orange the World Project’ as part of 16 days activism against Gender Based Violence (GBV) in Ayobo, Lagos State.

Gender Integration Associate at CIHP, Aisha Sule, while training women on how to identify, set boundaries and stop GBV, stressed on the importance of awareness of the risks of GBV and how to prevent them.

She explained that setting boundaries and self-defence were important ways to stop assault and prevent people, particularly women and girls, from getting hurt.

Sule explained that boundaries could be physical, mental or verbal.

According to her, physical boundaries are about how a woman wants to be touched or what she wants people to do or not with her body.

“Mental boundaries are the emotions a woman can share and the extent to which someone talking to her makes her uncomfortable, while verbal boundaries are things she wants people to say or not say to her.

“As women and girls, you need to understand your own boundaries and the point you get uncomfortable. You should also identify when someone has crossed your boundary,” she explained.

On self-defence skills, which she said could be in verbal, physical and mental forms, Sule explained that physical skills focus on target areas on the attacker’s body, adding, however, that it should be the last resort when in danger.

“You can learn to say no when you are not comfortable with something or warn someone of the consequences of his or her actions. Sometimes you may sense that something is about to happen and you get out of that situation. We have some target areas in an attacker’s body that you can hit when you are in danger; you can poke the eyes; you can do feet stomp,” she said.