Political situation in Ethiopia

Skateboarding gives freedom to young women in Ethiopia

In Addis Ababa, young women are increasingly taking up the sport of skateboarding, CNN reports in a report. The Addis Girls Skate group is challenging deep-rooted gender norms in an Ethiopia that is still recovering from the civil war in 2022.

Makdelina Desta is one of the founders of the group and she says that skateboarding means freedom to her.

– As a girl, you have so much responsibility. You can't just hang out with your friends without worrying about anything. But when I skate, I can pretend to be someone else. Then I feel like myself, and not condemned.

Skating mother of two: "I have a lot left to give"

The Addis Girls Skate skate group in Ethiopia does not only consist of young women and teenage girls. Burtekan, 43, a single mother of two, has joined.

“I wake up every morning with the goal of challenging my own limits. They shout at me that I am too old and that I must not fall. I may be old, but I am not dead, I have a lot left to give,” she tells CNN.

The younger girls call her “mamy” and see her as a mother figure.

Photographer Chantal Pinzi, who has followed the young skaters in Addis Ababa, says that many Ethiopian women are expected to stay home when they get married.

“Burtekan is doing something very different. She skates because she wants to break those stereotypes.