How Is Preparing For An Emergency Any Different For Women?
You may be wondering why women should prepare any differently than men for an emergency.
The truth is that there are very few differences.
Man or woman, your preparation for survival in an emergency will be extremely similar. Everything on this website and any other resources providing information on survival, is applicable, regardless of gender.
That being said, if you are a single mother, a widow, or your husband doesn’t feel like it’s important to prepare, this will be the perfect guide for you to get started.
What Are The Most Important Survival Tips For Females?
In our society, being female generally (and unfortunately) may make you more vulnerable to being passed over, attacked, or taken advantage of, especially in emergencies. Because of this, you will want to be equipped and empowered with knowledge on how to survive and complete basic survival tasks.
One of the most important things you need for survival is knowledge. That being said, being able to use that knowledge is second to none. It’s important to learn but even more important to practice.
Every woman should know what every man should know, plus some.
How Do I Defend Myself In An Emergency Situation?
Depending on the type of survival situation, another basic survival skill as a woman is self-defense. Even in times of non-emergency, women can be victims of violent crime. In your preparation, consider taking a self-defense class, staying physically active, and purchasing pepper spray or other similar protective items.
First, when you feel you may be in danger, verbalize exactly what you want. Don’t beat around the bush. Say exactly what you need firmly and directly, such as “step away from me now,” or “do not touch me.”
Next, seek help by making noise and using anything around you to get attention from either cars or people near you. If you have pepper spray, immediately spray this directly in your attacker’s eyes.
If your attacker is still making advances, prepare to defend yourself. The most effective moves are the straight punch, front kick to the groin, the knee kick, the bear hug defense, and the choke defense.
Your best and first option should be to get away from the attackers.
How To Defend Yourself
If you can’t get away, like the video demonstrates, here are 5 additional moves that will help you take it to the next level. Don’t be afraid to protect yourself if it comes to it.
Straight Punch
For the straight punch, plant your feet firmly, thrust your hips and fist forward at the same time, and aim for the attacker’s nose or throat.
Front Kick To The Groin
With your knee bent and heel back, extend and recoil your kick suddenly for maximum force. Kick with the top of your foot to the groin area, where your shoelaces are or would be.
Knee Kick
If your attacker is too close for a punch, knee your attacker powerfully in the groin. Grab his shoulders or clothing for the most leverage and knee the attacker with the bony part of your knee.
Bear Hug Defense
If your attacker tries to grab you in a bear hug from the front or back, you will probably be inclined to grab his arms to escape. Instead, drop as low as you can to the ground and squirm out of his clasp. Turn around quickly and punch or kick your attacker.
Choke Defense
If you are being choked, Meghan Rabbitt from prevention.com has great insight: “Instead of trying to pull the attacker’s hands off of your neck—a feat you’re unlikely to succeed at, especially if you’re smaller than your attacker—use your hands like hooks (with your thumbs against your pointer fingers and hands in a ‘C’ shape) and ‘pluck’ at your attacker’s thumbs. (If possible, kick at the same time.) If you’re able to pluck your attacker’s thumbs away, it’ll be harder for him or her to maintain a choke, giving you time to strike back and get away.”
Other Types Of Survival Preparation
Another important survival tip, especially if you are a single mother, widow, or alone in your preparedness journey, is to familiarize yourself with your area. Get to know your neighbors and seek community. This will create a better support system in times of emergency.
After you feel good about your self-defense preparation, you should start preparing in other survival areas.
A great place to start, if the information on survival is new, is how to purify water in the wild. Typically, you must boil water for 1-3 minutes to ensure that it is purified. From here, you will want to filter the water to make it safe to drink and/or cook with.
Fire starting skills are necessary for survival, as well as navigating, using a first aid kit, finding food and water, and creating shelter. All of these are explained more thoroughly if you are a beginner in the article here.
Taking it to the next level. You should prepare a survival kit and purchase a few items that could help you in most survival situations. We’ll breakdown each one of these below.
What Are The Top 10 Survival Items For Women?
When building your survival kit as mentioned below, think through what you would take if you were going out to camping without running water or electricity for a few days or weeks.
What are the things that you would take? What are things that would help you find food, water, and shelter? What are your specific necessities?
As a simple starting list, make sure to include these 10 items. From here, build your survival kit based on your specific area and most likely emergency situations:
- A change of clothes/underwear
- A blanket
- A pocketknife
- Rope
- A water filter
- A first aid kit
- Feminine hygiene products
- Pepper spray
- A flashlight
- A fire starter, such as matches
How Do I Begin Building My Survival Kit As A Woman?
If you are new to survival preparation, the following tips will help you know where to start:
- To begin your survival kit, consider adding a first aid kit. This is absolutely the most important item in your kit. Add basic bandages, prescription medication, disinfectant, and anything else you use commonly.
- Next, add a flashlight to your survival kit, as well as a fire starter such as a lighter, or matches.
- Consider adding rope, as it can (and will) be used for a wide variety of activities in an emergency situation.
- Water filtration is critical in any emergency, which makes packing some kind of water purifying mechanism absolutely critical.
- Add any toiletry items that you couldn’t do without, such as feminine hygiene products, toilet paper, and soap. Feminine hygiene products could be especially hard to find in times of emergency and should be stored generously.
- Last, add some kind of self-protection item into your kit, such as pepper spray.
- Next, add the rest of the items mentioned above along with any personal items that you might use on an extended vacation.
The trick to backing a survival kit is to pack needed items only. The more you pack the heavier it will become. It’s good to think through a scenario of when you would use this survival kit. Most likely you’ll be packing it around on your back for an extended period of time. If it’s too heavy, you’ll regret it. If you miss out on adding a few things you need, you’ll regret it.
There’s a fine line to packing what you need versus what you want. You can figure it out though. It’s recommended that you build your kit and then practice. If it’s not too heavy for you, add more. If it’s too heavy, take some out. At least you’ll know and be prepared for when the time comes to use it.