January 14, 2025

Women in Martial Arts: the Journey Through Time

Tatyana Grechina

Women in Martial Arts: the Journey Through Time

Editor’s note: This article is the second in a series focused on women in martial arts. Read the first article here!

As we explore the journey of women in the world of martial arts, we’d be remiss to not start at the beginning. (Or at least within the last couple of centuries.) 

Whether you’ve been a lifetime sports fan or more invested in the women’s rights side of the conversation, we want to acknowledge that all the progress we’ve seen comes on the wings of a long and arduous journey forged by many women who came before those we see on the mats, in the rings and online today.

The popular metaphor of the Chinese bamboo tree offers a powerful lesson on perseverance and growth. This tree requires daily nurturing for several years before it ever breaks through the surface, but once it does, it can grow up to 100 feet in six weeks.

Josephine Blatt

Beneath what we see today, the progress we can track and stats we can measure, lies an entire realm of work, voices and experiences – many long forgotten. Many of these belonged to women society often viewed as other — “freaks” popularized or often exploited for their unique and unusual strength. 

Women who boxed go back as far as the early 1700s, and throughout the years, some were frequently ostracized for their desire to embrace more male-dominated activities like fighting or athletics. Even those who chose to pave their own paths regardless of society’s standards were still subject to its scrutiny, and eventually, historical narration.

One of these early pioneers included Josephine “Minerva” Blatt, a famous weightlifter and wrestler known as the “Strong Woman of the Victorian Era” who became the first-ever women’s wrestling world champion. She performed feats like lifting heavyweights and breaking chains, and historical records generally agree that Minerva was actually the first world champion of either gender – she won her belt sometime in the 1890s, while George Hackenschmidt (officially the first world heavyweight champion) claimed his title in 1905.

Katie Sandwina

Other early forerunners of female fighters included Katie Sandwina in the early 1900s, who could lift her husband over her head and bend steel bars, Elizabeth Wilkenson, who holds the earliest record of a public bout between two women in London, circa 1722 and Bruising Peg. Now referred to as Margaret Malloy, Peg represents another female boxer who famously packed a mean punch from a time when most were described as “she-devils in sensationalistic poses.” Legend has it that in 1768, she beat her antagonist in a fight in exchange for a new outfit.

Still, despite choosing to stray from societal expectations and taking different paths, they were often viewed only as novelties. Our world hadn’t yet caught up, so rather than being seen as equals in these traditionally male-centric fields, they were viewed as spectacles and often treated as such. The Gordon sisters were filmed by Thomas Edison as early as 1901 for an early moving picture. 

Eventually, many martial artists and female fighters, such as Karen Shepherd, Mimi Lesseos, and Rhonda Rousey took the power back in this and ultimately became entertainment personalities, or worked in the circus, film or TV as stuntwomen. 

When Ronda Rousey became the first female fighter signed by the UFC in 2012, she was awarded the inaugural UFC Women’s Bantamweight Championship and became a pioneer in women’s MMA, popularizing the sport for women and paving the way for other female fighters.

She remained undefeated in the UFC for nearly three years until Holly Holm knocked her out. Prior to her time in the UFC, Ronda became the first American woman to earn an Olympic medal in judo, winning a bronze at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, inspired by her mother, AnnMaria De Mars, who was a world judo champion. 

The allowance of Ronda to join the UFC was huge for women as UFC President Dana White, who had previously stated that women would never fight in the UFC, changed his stance after recognizing her star potential.

Ronda Rousey’s November 2015 defeat by Holly Holm, who had only had two previous matches in the UFC, was a dramatic upset.

Women have had the ability to partake in team sports since the late 19th century, with all-female soccer, basketball, tennis, volleyball teams emerging in the early 20th century. Today, we see over 15,000 all-female sports teams globally, though their popularity is roughly 10-30% of that of their male counterparts, depending on the sport​.

While men’s events in combat sports, including the UFC, still traditionally draw higher viewership than women’s, viewership for women’s events is increasing – especially with fighters like Ronda Rousey, Amanda Nunes, and Valentina Shevchenko have been part of some highly viewed cards. Generally speaking, women only make up about 10 percent of UFC fans, so the audience for women’s fights comes from a smaller subset of UFC’s fanbase.

Yet, even as the ladies get more allowances and freedom to participate in the “boy’s world,” they continue to be subject to a variety of restrictions and requirements revolving around their biology.

[How Watching Women’s Sports Empowers Young Female Athletes]

Dre Austin on creating more space for women

Dre Austin, a Boulder Muay Thai coach and Purple Shirt who came to Easton in 2022 from the East Coast, has trained since 2009. Originally from DC where she found Muay Thai, Dre spent most of her adult life in New York City where she trained at Renzo Gracie (who later recommended Easton to her as she moved to Colorado post-pandemic.)

When Dre started training 15 years ago, she tells us the landscape was already changing as more women became trail blazers – especially at the competitive level. In fact, the only reason she even considered joining the school in DC was because a woman co-owned it. For Dre, picturing herself there in seeing it modeled by another woman was extremely important.

“When I first started in DC,” Dre recalls, “they asked me to be on the fight team because there was only one other woman on a team of 30. The higher up you get, the drop-off is pretty high, especially when you get to an advanced level of competing.”

Outside of her Muay Thai life, Dre, who used to work for a UN foundation, now works for a non-profit called the Earth Species Project where she essentially gets to talk to animals. With the help of machine learning and AI, she works with biologists to better understand and translate the way animals communicate, analyzing the patterns in animal vocalizations, behaviors and interactions.

Within martial arts, it continues to be important to Dre to get more women involved. Many women are drawn to the sports for the confidence aspect, but people have all kinds of reasons and motivations for coming to combat sports. Some have experienced incidents of harassment or worse, and want to learn to protect themselves. Dre describes the range as anything from medicine to lifestyle.

In her own life, when she moved to New York, she tried out all of the Muay Thai schools around; her first question in all of them was to ask how many women trained there. A lot of them try to sell you with an affirmative answer, but looking around the mats told a different story. To counter this narrative, Easton works hard to not just create a safe space for women through womens-only classes but really facilitate a strong representation on the mats in general. 

We increasingly see more women on the mats, but there’s still space to improve. Like we covered in the last article, many women experience different treatment in the form of babying with men going too soft, afraid to touch or hit them in any way. 

Alternatively, they also may experience the flip side – sparring with a man they’re technically better then, and suddenly they’ll ratchet up the power because they don’t like you outclassing them technique-wise. 

While the student population probably has the most gender parity, the disparity starts to creep up as you get to the competition side and instructor side – especially those coaching active fighters.

[Easton’s Allie Readmond: Competing Globally and Representing Women in Muay Thai]

In the classroom at Easton, we have mixed-gender classes because we believe that the best way to learn self-defense and get better at your martial art is to experience it with a variety of people and body types. However, when it comes to competition, the structure can look a little different.

Dre tells us that back when she was fighting, there would be extra hoops women had to jump through to fight. For example, they weren’t allowed to fight on their period. 

“Nobody really enforced it,” she says, “but the fact you had to fill out a form felt like such a violation of bodily autonomy. That has nothing to do with whether I can perform in the sport.”

When it comes to competing, much of the protocol is still based very much on men’s biology. Things like weight cuts, which are more clearly defined for men, affect women differently due to hormones. 

Frequently, male coaches don’t have the understanding to connect with their female athletes about this and Dre has seen them get mad at women fighters for things like this. Unfortunately, this can lead to women feeling uncomfortable even talking to their male coaches about their periods.

“You’re an athlete with a body,” says Dre. “Your body is your currency in this sport. We need to talk about you holistically.” 

The UFC officially ended its policy requiring mandatory pregnancy tests for female fighters in 2020. 

At Easton, Dre credits Coach Sean Madden, in particular at really pushing the bar when it comes to lifting up women, students, athletes, competitors and coaches. He’s conscious and intentional about including women in the Muay Thai program and ensuring people like Coach Stephanie, a mental health specialist, who works and travels with the fight team are around to support and empower all the athletes.

[The Women of Muay Thai: Patty Inglis Interview]

Despite some of the challenges women have experienced on the mats and in competition in the past, Dre believes that competing is an important part of building confidence – especially mental resilience – which translates into how you show up in the world through all areas of life.

Though she’s no longer actively fighting, she sees an important part of her role as staying connected and bringing in as many people as possible into that world and continuing to make sure Muay Thai remains accessible to women. Currently at the Boulder academy, she leads a  strength session for competitive female athletes where they do strength programming as it connects to their work, including lifting and running.

Through this, Dre has created a space where women can talk about all of these things in a safe space designed for the amplification of feminine energy. However, feminine energy does not necessarily mean soft. 

“Aggression isn’t gendered,” Dre says. “It can show up for anyone.”

Some ways that she has seen women deal with setbacks include journaling or visualization, meditation and breathwork.  Sometimes, she tells us, you have to reconcile, step away from sport and reassess; sometimes you have to meet it head on. 

Despite the challenges, Dre encourages women to continue showing up, being consistent and trying lots of different styles of martial arts: boxing, Jiu Jitsu, Aikido, kickboxing and Muay Thai. 

Even within one discipline, different instructors bring different flavors – don’t give up just because you have one bad class or one bad experience. Easton is blessed with a huge variety of coaches at its different academies; sometimes you just need to find your people.

[Women in Martial Arts: Defying Expectations and Setting New Standards]

Alea Benson-Littlejohn on feeling the heat

Alea Benson-Littlejohn

Alea Benson-Littlejohn has been training Muay Thai for seven and a half years after starting with cardio kickboxing to get out her frustration. Soon after, one of her instructors suggested she try Muay Thai, and today, she holds a purple shirt. 

Though Alea had no intention of competing, when she saw one of her female partners fight in the Colorado State Tournament (and how badass she was), Alea decided she wanted to try it too. 

Similar to Coach Dre, Alea has experienced a variety of behaviors towards her when it comes to being a woman in Muay Thai – sometimes to her own surprise.

The school Alea trained at for about six months before coming to Easton was well-balanced when it came to having both me and women on the mats. Whereas many women get treated with kid gloves by their male peers, Alea’s first coach did not discriminate when it came to his style of training his students. Men and women alike received the same level of toughness and high expectations.

“The coach didn’t care whether you were a woman or a man,” she recalls. He told her she had to do three hard sparring rounds with him. “He put me through it. In the moment, I was like, ‘I can’t believe you hit me that hard, sliced my side, I’m a woman!’ Looking back though, he really prepared me for all the fights I’ve done up till now even.”

There’s a lot of pressure with fighting, including the adrenaline dump, finding the cardio and keeping mind and defenses sharp. None of these things are gendered, and the more experience everyone gets in these situations, the better in the ring they’ll be. 

Unfortunately, her coach stopped training fighters, and Alea switched to a new academy in order to keep growing in the direction she wanted to head – Easton Denver. 

When she came to Easton, she felt very welcome and didn’t feel treated any differently as a woman, but she did notice that some of my male partners would go a lot lighter, to the point it was almost insulting. Not everyone, but some, and Alea wasn’t used to that. Especially when she’s preparing for fights, Alea wants to feel the heat. If people go too soft, that’s a disservice to her training and development.

At a height of 5’1, Alea usually competes between 130-142 lbs. Some people who are bigger than her with longer limbs will try to outclass her with strength, or they underestimate her since she’s on the smaller side and a woman. In those moments, they may start out thinking of her as an easy round, but when she gets in range, she can see their ego come out.

“It’s hard to find that medium, in-between space,” Alea says. “Sometimes people go too light and don’t really try, and then others think you’re going to be a rest round and ramp it up. It’s hard to not get mad – I’d be lying if I said I never let it show or get frustrated.”

These moments also include instances where she’s a higher ranking person, and goes with a lower ranked male student who might “go wild” on her not recognizing her physiology. As a higher ranking woman, you truly get to see both sides of the spectrum as some people may try to crank up the intensity on you even more than normal. 

[Empowering Women Through Muay Thai and Jiu Jitsu]

Luckily, the landscape has been steadily changing since the days Alea first came to Easton and only had a handful of female training partners. Over time, Alea has seen women get a lot more respect on the mats, and she feels seen and heard. 

From a ratio of 80/20 men to women where 90% of the coaches were men, she’s seen it shift much closer to half and half. Today, we have multiple female department heads – from Kate Eischen, Centennial’s new GM to Mallory Martin as Centennial’s Head of BJJ and more. The women’s sparring events we held last summer and fall had between 80 and 90 women on the mats! 

As many training partners come and go over the years, it lights Alea up to see some of the few who have been with her from the very beginning – including Coach Steph and Coach Melissa Burdette, both brown shirts, still paving the way for other women. 

To Alea, the beauty of mentoring and supporting others in the process has everything to do with listening, being supportive, paying it forward and passing down the wisdom she’s gathered over the years. She makes sure to keep an open mind, open ears and an open heart; if someone has an issue, she always tries to tell them that she’s a safe space. 

“That’s always been offered to me,” Alea says, “from more senior students, and I want to pass that down. Especially with women because we go through a lot of trauma, assault and abuse, and I want to make sure Easton, especially for women, is a safe space.”

Alea tells us that she tries to be as vocal as possible with newer women at the academy — welcome them, get to know them, become the friendly face and the safe space. Kickboxing, Muay Thai and Jiu Jitsu are meant to be empowering, not scary. She wants newcomers to trust that the community is here as a support system to help them flourish and grow in the sport. 

The community goes a long way in helping people feel like they belong. In high school, Alea played basketball and softball. So while she did feel the sense of being on a team before, when she got to Easton, she learned that she could experience camaraderie in a completely different way. Even though technically martial arts is an individual sport, so many people support you and have your back, especially in getting you ready for competition. 

This sense of camaraderie has extended beyond the mats into Alea’s personal life as well as fighters and practitioners form “bonds through violence.” 

[Women and Jiu Jitsu: a Powerful Combination]

“I know you’re gonna take care of me,” says Alea, “that’s a form of trust. If I can trust you to take care of me in sparring, I can trust you outside of that. I can be myself, tell you about insecurities and traumas. A lot of women here know things some of my close friends don’t even know.”

To women who may be hesitant to start martial arts, Alea encourages them to just jump in! Reach out to another woman in class, partner on a bag with them. Even if it’s only their second or third class, they’ve gone through the same experience.

[The Heroine’s Journey: Growing Up in Easton ft. Vi Burlew]

Professor Beth Huddleston on finding your voice

Beth and Alex Huddleston

Professor Beth Huddleson, a black belt who’s been training Jiu Jitsu since 2012 tells us she still experiences different treatment from male peers when visiting academies outside of Easton than her male black belt counterparts do. 

Her story is also inextricably linked to her husband, our Martial Arts Program Director Alex Huddleston, and his journey in the professional MMA world. While initially, Beth wanted to do MMA like he did, she quickly realized she doesn’t want to get punched in the face and broke off to focus on Jiu Jitsu as a ground fighter. 

With the constant contrast thrust upon her, she would notice the difference immediately when Professor Alex, standing at 6’7” and 270 lbs, would walk into a room versus herself at 5′ 5″. Beth tells us that she had to earn a lot of my training partners’ respect, and she did this by putting years on the mats and dedicating her time to getting extremely technical.

Even with putting in years of work to hold her own against her larger, male opponents, Beth still feels the pressure to prove herself in spaces where she inadvertently gets treated with kid gloves – like when visiting other gyms and academies. 

“I’m just a black belt female,” Beth says. “Some of them roll with me like I’m a child. I literally will say, ‘Hey I’ve been training for 11 years. I’m an athlete, I do jiu jitsu, I’m a technical practitioner. Don’t coach me in the middle of the round, I’m a black belt too.’”

She recalls in her younger years of training, she’d come home crying, feeling like people didn’t respect her because she was a white belt. Beth tells us she had to get over that and keep fighting for herself. Beth quickly found that gaining confidence and stepping into her power as a female black belt would require her to find her voice, which she says took her a long time. 

[Punch Up Your Love Life]

Most of her teammates going through the belt ranks with her were all male, and while those who did train with her respected and understood that, she had to bring that out in other training spaces as well.

Something Beth has had to learn to navigate – like many women – is how to be taken seriously despite having a bubbly personality. Already society tends to condition women to be nice, to smile, to make everyone feel comfortable.  Even the common trope of calling a woman a “boss bitch” as opposed to men, who are simply “bosses” implies an underlying double standard that equates female assertiveness with aggression.”

“You don’t want to come off as catty and rude,” Beth says, “but if we don’t communicate then it’s a risk. It’s like damned if you do, damned if you don’t. It is a hard balance.”

She tells us it took years of practice finding the balance of not coming off as rude, and that it took a lot of screwing up in the process. In some cases, Beth realized if she couldn’t get people to listen to her, she would just have to show them.  That’s when she came back and kept practicing her technique, so she could walk the walk and talk the talk at the same time.

[Easton Black Belt and Lowry Co-Owner Professor Amy Fidelis: Commitment to Conquer Fear]

Additionally – sometimes Jiu Jitsu is simply fun. Rolling with your friends, no matter what gender, can result in fits of laughter and a bonding experience beyond just technique or competition. However, knowing when to step out of that giggle space in order to speak up makes all the difference when it comes to truly finding your voice.

No matter if you unintentionally come off as weak or rude, it comes down to showing up for yourself and on the mats. Talk to your training partners. Sometimes, if you’re rolling with a male at a new school and they don’t know you, they might have a preconceived notion about female Jiu Jitsu students. Breaking down those walls can humanize you both and put your mutual goals and love for the sport front and center.

“We have extra layers to experience,” Beth says of the many discomforts women have to overcome on the mats. “Breaking preconceived social norms plus all our own insecurities, plus getting over a man trying to choke you – being in those vulnerable spaces.”

[3 Reasons Women Should Train Brazilian Jiu Jitsu]

The way all of this compounds, Beth describes being immature and scared, and probably not the nicest person in the room in her beginning years. Even now, twelve years later, Beth says she still has moments – like when a guy is smother- choking her – that she enters fight or flight and feels the need to get out. In those moments, she leans heavily into her training and into staying calm in the moment. 

Getting comfortable being uncomfortable became key to controlling her emotions and herself on the mat. For Beth, working on the technique side became the foundation to having more control over the outcomes in the rolls and some control over her mind. For women, she says, who can get past this first layer – it does so much for confidence.

The ability to find her voice on the mats has translated into her career as well. As a healthcare professional, the confidence she’s gained in the training room has helped her in the corporate world in both climbing the ranks and holding her ground when difficult situations arise. True confidence also helps you find power in being a nice person – not needing to be mean on the mats or in the office to assert yourself.

Sometimes, it may require finding creative ways to speak up. For example, if you see your partner doing something incorrect but don’t feel like you have the rank to say something directly, Beth suggests saying,

“Hey, I want to let you know –  I just learned this in class 3-4 weeks ago; Professor, do you agree?”

Take a moment of sincerity. Post an honest question and ask the upper belt what they think. In other situations, if you ever don’t want to roll with a person, you’re allowed to say no.

As the landscape continues to shift when it comes to gender disparity on the mats, Beth has noticed a significant change within the last five years. With the ADCC opening up more women’s divisions, more pro cards with women divisions on them and the IBJJF giving more women a platform to shine, seeing females in Jiu Jitsu has also become mainstream.

[My Experience: What it Means to Be a Woman in Jiu Jitsu]

Whereas having all-female classes can make a good place for someone to start, ultimately if your goal is truly to learn to protect yourself, you need to train with men. The majority of the time in a woman’s life, statistically it’s men doing the assaulting; having a safe space for women to experience a sport where a man is on top of her choking her is critical so that she can learn to manage fear, discomfort and defensive technique in a realistic setting. 

Beth has even had to use her Jiu Jitsu in the hospital setting for one reason or another. She’s had grown men try to physically hold her down, and thanks to her training, she knows how to keep herself safe. For this reason, she’s a strong proponent of mixed classes for women; the more comfortable you can get with the discomfort the louder your voice and stronger your confidence are around standing up for yourself.

As more women join the ranks of our grapplers and fighters, we continue to see an emphasis on camaraderie, education and empowerment. Those women, who have been with us the longest and have seen the evolution in the larger martial arts world have also seen the most dramatic changes when it comes to other women on a personal level.

Witnessing the power of martial arts to completely change someone’s life and alter their trajectory fuels their desire firsthand to continue bringing others in and making it as welcoming a space as possible for new female members.

Many of our strongest female fighters and competitors have stuck around because of those women who first inspired them on the mats. Even those who never compete continue to show up and test their physical, mental and emotional limits thanks to their favorite female coaches and girlfriends in class who make something challenging and even sometimes scary feel fun, exciting and playful.

As we continue to develop our women’s martial arts community, we look to those who come before us, who normalize the sport at various levels, we look to those around us who work every day to make classes a safe and enjoyable experience and to the future professors and instructors who may now only have white belts but will one day take the lead and teach and inspire other women the way their role models did for them.

Centennial’s New GM, Kate Eischen: Stepping Into Your Power

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