Female lifeguards to guide women to hit the surf at Goa beaches

In a bid to encourage more women to hit the surf, a private lifeguard agency manning Goa's beaches, has launched a special 'Swim with Lifesavers' programme, as part of which women lifeguards conduct special swimming sessions exclusively for women.

The initiative was launched by Drishti Marine on Women's Day (March 8) in order to encourage women visitors to Goa -- many of whom are first-time swimmers -- to learn and enjoy the charms and challenges of sea swimming.

"What we do know is that many women coming to Goa are first-time swimmers and some also come from more reserved backgrounds. By launching a women guided swim session on Women's Day we wanted to encourage more of them to take the step and enjoy the water without hesitation. We are proud to champion the idea of women empowering women," Divya Sharma, Head of Brand Culture and Communication at Drishti Marine told DH.

"We hope more women literally - take the plunge and try swimming in the sea. We also hope seeing these young women (women lifeguards) out there on the beach in a tough job gives young women a lot of inspiration," she also said.

Goa is one of the first states in the country to have women lifeguards on duty at its beaches spread over 100 kms and the 'Swim with Lifesavers' programme for women, tries to make the most of the USP.

"Yes, Goa is unique in its scale of lifesaving operation, the only one of its kind in India. So seeing women lifesavers out there is something even more unique," Sharma said.

Asked about the challenges faced by women lifeguards, Sharma said while some infrastructure-related challenges were looked into, there was just one instance of bullying by a drunk male tourist, which was tackled by a woman lifeguard herself.

"Our women lifesavers are smart and tough young women who have made this interesting choice of career and if you asked them directly they would say no problems. Of course there are concerns that we are looking into such as whether they have safe, clean facilities (toilets) available to them while at work on any of the beaches," she said.

"Besides that there has been for example an incident with one drunk male, but unlucky for him our lifesaver turned out to be a black belt!" Sharma added.
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