The woman warrior

Elisabetta Massey, a 60-year-old Italian, is someone who is always concerned about the safety of women. A tour manager for many years, it was her travels across the world that alerted her about the need to begin a programme to train women on self-defence skills. And thus ‘She.Fend’ was born.

“I realised that how important is for women to protect themselves, to be vigilant and be aware of your surroundings.” Elisabetta now teaches young women in the Kingdom on how to protect them by learning some martial arts techniques.

Speaking to Tribune, she said, “When I was younger I was subjected to a lot of harassments, especially while travelling. You can imagine 40 years ago being a female tour leader was considered in the eyes of some people just not acceptable. Then I got married and eventually stopped travelling and had my boy and during those times I embraced the martial art calling,”