Street harassment is a widespread problem for women in Belgium. In a 2023 survey of 1,000 women conducted by Stand Up Against Street Harassment and Belgian non-profit Touche Pas À Ma Pote, 83% of women questioned said they had suffered some form of street harassment.
Regardless of whether you feel safe walking around the streets or not, learning how to defend yourself is never a bad idea. Learning the basics of self-defence can equip you with practical skills to enhance your personal safety and help you avoid risky situations. Furthermore, it can boost your confidence and your health and fitness, as well as allowing you to get out and meet new people.
If you are interested in attending a self-defence class for women, there are plenty of options available throughout the country. Here is our round-up of where you can learn to defend yourself in Belgium.
Self-defence classes in Brussels
Garance is the most well-known non-profit organisation in Brussels that offers self-defence workshops for women, teaching violence prevention techniques. They offer various training classes for women of all ages, including classes for women aged over 55 and separate classes for girls.
The standard fee to attend a two-day training is €70, but for people experiencing financial difficulties a reduced rate of €20 is possible. There are also monthly two-hour workshops for €5. You can find the agenda here. At the moment, there are no workshops available in English.
Self-defence classes in Flanders
Pioen is a non-profit that organises self-defence workshops across Flanders. Peter Huyghe founded Pioen in memory of his son's girlfriend, Julie Van Espen, who was murdered in 2019.
The workshops are free, but registration is mandatory. Groups range in size from 40 to 100 participants. Here is the calendar.
In Antwerp, SANDO offers practical, women-only classes, teaching awareness, verbal defence, de-escalation, as well as reaction-based techniques for real-life scenarios, from workplace harassment to street attacks.
There are regular six-week courses for women of all ages, one hour per week, €120 for the entire course, and are accessible to English speakers. In addition, there are occasional 90-minute workshops, €30 for participants. SANDO also has departments in Mortsel, Kontich, Deurne, and Herentals. More information can be found here.
Self-defence classes in Wallonia
The Collective Against Domestic Violence and Exclusion (CVFE) in Liège offers feminist self-defence training events among other educational activities. You can follow announcements on the website or via social media.
Also in Liège, charities D-Clic and SORALIA organise 2-day self-defence workshops for women taught by women. The programme focuses on violence prevention, self-empowerment and acquiring simple and effective self-defence techniques. There is also a single-day class on verbal self-defence coming in November. More information here.
Walloon WingTsun Organisation (OWWT) is a martial arts school that also offers self-defence classes for women.
For students
Students at KU Leuven can attend self-defence classes at Sportcampus Arenberg for free if they have a KU Leuven sports card.
The sports card costs €35 per academic year for KU Leuven students and €75 for students from other universities. More on sports cards here. More information about the courses here.
