International Women’s Day

In 2025 Barwon Academy of Arms decided to hold 2 free classes in celebration of International Women’s Day.  This started, admittedly, from a discussion on how to increase our membership, but soon became about creating a safe space for women to try out our sport. 

Historical European Martial Arts predominantly consists of men, according to research from 2021 (https://www.researchgate.net/publication/370780287_The_state_of_HEMA_in_2021_The_German_Austrian_HEMA_census). Women make up 20-27.5%, with non-binary people making about 0.75-3.9% of the HEMA population. So we asked the women in our classes what were the barriers they faced in coming to one of our classes and what got them through those doors and what made them stay.

Everyone had a different view (we are all individuals, after all), but everyone agreed that going to an unfamiliar place to do an unfamiliar activity (no matter how cool) with mostly strange men in attendance, could be a lot.  And as friendly, kind and welcoming as those strange men in our classes are, anyone who hasn’t been there wouldn’t know that.  So we came up with our Women’s Day class.

In our first year, Kestin, Samantha and Paulina ran the class (with Brenton helping with logistics and equipment). Although the classes were small we think they worked out well.  We decided in 2026 that we would run the class again but this time at both Barwon Academy of Arms and Werribee Academy of Arms. With the same people running the Geelong class and with Lillian, Brenton, Dom and Scott running the Werribee classes. The classes were still small but we don’t need large numbers to make an impact. It was worth creating it even if only one person turned up to a class, because in the end we just want to create a safe space you can swing a sword around in. 

We plan to hold the classes again in 2027.

Past events