The Celebration and the Contradiction

Every year on March 8th, corporates across India and the world celebrate International Women’s Day. The speeches are inspiring. The social media posts are beautifully designed. The themes are powerful: Break the Bias. Inspire Inclusion. Accelerate Action. Choose to Challenge.

And then, a few weeks later, someone from the same company sends out an email to a self-defense training provider that says: “Please confirm that the instructor will be female. We prefer a woman trainer for our women employees.”

I want to be very gentle with this observation, because I know the intention is good. But the contradiction is real, and it is worth talking about. Because International Women’s Day is, at its heart, about equality. And specifying that only a person of a particular gender can perform a job is, by definition, not equality.

A Quick Look at What Is Actually Being Violated

Let me walk through this carefully. Not to accuse, but to educate. Because I believe that most corporates would correct this immediately if they realised the full picture.

The POSH Act, 2013

The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace Act mandates awareness and training programs. But it does not mandate the gender of the person delivering those programs. The Act focuses on content, quality, and outcomes. More importantly, the POSH Act exists to dismantle gender-based stereotypes and biases in the workplace. Ironically, insisting on a female trainer because of assumptions about what women are comfortable with reinforces gender stereotyping, which goes against the spirit of the very law being complied with.

BFOQ (Bona Fide Occupational Qualification)

This legal concept allows gender to be a job requirement only when it is genuinely essential. A female washroom attendant, yes. An actor for a specific gender role, yes. A self-defense instructor? No. Self-defense instruction is a knowledge-based and skill-based profession. The ability to teach crime awareness, threat response, and personal safety strategies has nothing to do with the instructor’s gender.

DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) Policies

Most corporates with DEI policies explicitly state that they do not discriminate based on gender in hiring, procurement, or service engagement. Specifying a gender requirement for a trainer directly contradicts these policies. If the DEI policy applies to hiring a marketing manager, it should also apply to engaging a training facilitator.

The Indian Constitution

• Article 14: Equality before law.
• Article 15(1): Prohibition of discrimination on grounds of sex.
• Article 16(1) and 16(2): Equality of opportunity in employment, with specific prohibition of sex-based discrimination.

Equal Remuneration Act, 1976 (Section 5) and Code on Wages, 2019 (Section 3)

Both prohibit gender-based discrimination in recruitment and engagement for the same or similar work.

Companies Act, 2013 and SEBI Corporate Governance Guidelines

These require companies to uphold fairness, transparency, and non-discrimination. Gender-based vendor selection, when gender is not a genuine requirement, is inconsistent with these governance standards.

International Frameworks

• ILO Convention No. 111: Prohibits discrimination based on sex in employment and occupation. Ratified by India.
• CEDAW: Aims to eliminate gender stereotyping. Requiring a female instructor based on gendered assumptions about comfort is a form of stereotyping. Also ratified by India.
• UN SDG 5 (Gender Equality): Calls for the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women and girls, and the empowerment of all women through equal opportunity.
• ESG Standards: The “S” in ESG covers social factors including non-discrimination and equal opportunity. Gender-based exclusion in procurement can affect ESG compliance and reporting.

“International Women’s Day is about equality. Not about selectively deciding which jobs a man can and cannot do. If we flip this around and imagine a company saying ‘we only want a male instructor,’ every DEI committee in the country would raise a flag. Discrimination does not change its nature based on which gender it targets.”

– Specialist Franklin Joseph

The Pattern of Misdirection

This is part of a larger pattern that I have observed over the years, and I think it is worth sharing.

Phase one: The focus was on the victim. Her clothes, her behaviour, her choices. As if crime was a consequence of wardrobe decisions.

Phase two: The focus shifted to martial arts techniques. Karate, kickboxing, Krav Maga. The assumption was that learning to throw a punch would solve everything. But martial arts is a sport. Self-defense is about surviving a crime. They are not the same.

Phase three, the current one: The focus is now on the gender of the instructor. Once again, we are looking at everything except the actual issue: the crime itself.

At every stage, the conversation has drifted away from what truly matters. How do criminals think? How do they select targets? What psychological tactics do they use? What are the pre-crime warning signs? How do you overcome the freeze response? What do you do during an attack? What do you do after? These are the questions that save lives. And none of them have anything to do with the instructor’s gender.

What Women’s Day Should Actually Inspire in Self-Defense Training

If we genuinely want to honour the spirit of International Women’s Day, here is what I believe self-defense training for women should look like.

It should be chosen based on the instructor’s expertise in crime psychology, not their chromosomes.

It should cover the full spectrum of personal safety: pre-crime awareness, during-crime response, and post-crime recovery.

It should challenge women to step out of their comfort zones, because that is where growth happens and that is where survival skills are built.

It should treat women as strong, capable adults who can handle learning from the most qualified person available, regardless of gender.

It should not reinforce the idea that women need to be protected from the mere presence of a male professional in a safe, controlled environment.

“The greatest gift you can give a woman on Women’s Day is not a comfortable workshop. It is the confidence that she can handle the uncomfortable. That is empowerment. Everything else is decoration.”

– Specialist Franklin Joseph

A Respectful Invitation

To every corporate celebrating International Women’s Day this year: your commitment to women’s safety is commendable. Your investment in self-defense workshops is admirable. Your care for your employees is genuine, and I see that clearly.

I am simply asking you to take that commitment one step further. Apply the same principles of equality, fairness, and non-discrimination that you celebrate on Women’s Day to the way you select your trainers. Choose based on skill. Choose based on knowledge. Choose based on outcomes.

That is how you truly honour the day. Not just with words, but with actions that match.

“Equality is not a theme for one day a year. It is a standard for every decision, every day. Including the decision of who teaches your women’s self-defense workshop.”

– Specialist Franklin Joseph