Every weekend in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia’s skater girls roll into Addis Skatepark and quietly flip the script on what girls are “supposed” to do. Groups like Ethiopian Girl Skaters and Addis Girl Skateboarding started as a handful of girls looking for a safe way to learn, but now count dozens of members who meet up in jeans, hijabs, baggy tees and sometimes full habesha kemis to practise turns, drops and ollies together.
In a city where public space and sports have long been dominated by boys, the sight of teenage girls carving bowls and cruising down Bole Road sends a clear message: this space is for us too. You can see that energy in Vogue’s feature on their Saturday sessions at Addis Skatepark here.
The first big spark came in 2020, when skater Sosina Challa shared an online flyer offering free skateboarding lessons for girls, planting the seed for Ethiopian Girl Skaters (EGS), the country’s first female‑led skate group. Co‑founder Meron has described their mission simply: create a space where girls can be themselves without limitations, using skateboarding as the tool that teaches them to fall, rise and keep going.
What makes these crews stand out is the mix of skill‑building and sisterhood. On any given Saturday, older skaters are seen steadying a younger girl’s board, translating tips into Amharic, or cheering when someone finally lands a turn they’ve been scared of for weeks. Parents who were once wary about their daughters hanging around skateparks are slowly being brought in, with the girls and organisers explaining how skating builds confidence, independence and new friendships across class and neighbourhood lines.
A Condé Nast Traveler piece notes that EGS now teaches girls every weekend and has inspired new groups like Addis Girl Skateboarding to form, creating a small ecosystem where girls meet, practise and claim the park as a second home.
Online, the “skater girls of Ethiopia” have become a symbol bigger than the park itself. Clips of girls cruising through Addis in traditional dress and Vans, or dropping into ramps with niskat markings on their faces, have been shared by global pages from the Olympics to women’s empowerment platforms, framing them as proof that African girlhood is not one thing but many.
Instagram posts talk about them “breaking barriers and carving their own lanes,” while the girls themselves just call it doing what they love—skating, learning and backing each other up. For a deeper look at how Ethiopian Girl Skaters came together and why it matters, Dazed’s profile of the crew is a great starting point here.