Written by Tümay Aslay
It’s a bit of a sonata, hearing the rhythm of plywood against the pavement, of wheels scraping, spinning, lifting off and landing again. Bodies suspended in air, the dance of sneakers and jeans, swooping and gliding into a rhythmic lean - it’s nothing short of an artistic display. They say anyone can pick up a board and ride if they have a strip of pavement but for most of the existence of skateboarding, that hasn’t been the case. The narrative has always been that skateboarding is illegal. Skateboarding is dangerous. Skateboarding is for boys.
Skateboarding is going to the Olympics in July of this year. Sixteen driven and talented athletes, eight of them women, will represent the nation in the Tokyo 2021 Olympic Games. As the conversation on gender bias continues to evolve across all fields, it can be said that there's no shortage of groundbreaking women in the skateboarding industry. These women ride for the passion but most importantly, they ride for the greater acceptance in an industry that was not designed for their gender. But it's a boys’ club no more.
Women have been skating for generations, starting in California around the middle of the 20th century. The stories told by legendary skaters like Peggy Oki, Patti McGee, Elissa Steamer, Leo Baker and Lizzie Armanto, and many more unleash the path to resilience, courage, and passion for younger women.
Elissa Steamer in San Francisco 2001. Photo by Pete Thompson.
Creating space for women to make a living in the skate industry hasn’t been an easy journey. Cara-Beth Burnside was the first female skater to get her own signature shoe in 1994 by VANS. Getting your own shoe represents so much more than just footwear for a professional skateboarder; it symbolizes not only an athletic achievement but also, a way to earn money in this career. Elissa Steamer is also another female icon who has been in the game from the beginning, tearing down walls of female stereotypes and making a living wage off it. Steamer’s list of accomplishments in this sport has been paving space for women athletes to compete on the same grounds as men since 1996.
Kim Woozy is the director of development for Skate Like A Girl SF Bay in the Bay Area, a program designed to empower young women through the sport of skateboarding. She started her career marketing skateboarding shoes in San Diego. “This was exciting because I had the opportunity to help create skate shoes designed for girls, which in 2014 inspired me to start a video production company MAHFIA.TV that focused on girls in skateboarding,” Woozy says. Years later, Woozy formed WSA (Women’s Skateboarding Alliance) with colleagues Yulin Olliver, Mimi Knoop and Lisa Whitaker, a global management and consulting agency that represents the voices of women in the skateboarding world. “Six to eight years ago, there was no such thing as any female skater having an agent. There was no financial value in professional female skateboarding at that point which drove us to form an alliance to represent female athletes,” said Woozy, who has been providing young girls with opportunities to be involved in the skateboarding community for decades.
Kim Woozy during a Skate Like a Girl camp in Oakland, CA. Photo by Tumay Aslay.
Throughout its history, skateboarding has been portrayed as a rebellious sport. “The Olympics are changing that. Suddenly now you have these much larger companies investing in female athletes,'' Woozy says. Sponsorships and endorsement opportunities are only the beginning. Women athletes are finally getting the recognition they deserve. It’s not frowned upon anymore. It’s in the Olympics now. Woozy also points out that the growing numbers of female skateboarders, women-run brands, and positive reinforcement created organically through the youth programs are long overdue.
Meet Bay Area native Amy Yu. Photo courtesy of Amy Yu.
In a time when our social media has been filled with images from skate culture, the reason for 27 year-old Bay Area native Amy Yu’s interest in picking up skateboarding is clear: to build confidence. As Yu put it, “I’ve just always had an interest in subcultures. It’s a male-dominated sport, and you don’t really see a lot of females at the parks. It kind of feels empowering being on a skateboard. I’ve admired the sport for so long and thought it was about time for me to finally learn. It can be intimidating to be the only girl at the skatepark, but I’ve discovered that I can be in my head too much and that I need to stop being my own worst enemy. Nothing beats the feeling of putting yourself out there and succeeding.”
Skateboarding is not just a sport, but a form of art as each athlete creates their own unique style as they ride. It’s a form of dance that has been yearning for some much-needed diversity and girl power. Women are leaving their fears behind and heading to skateparks to build a sisterhood. A bond is being created over their common love for skating and their desire for less rules. This kind of sisterhood will change skateboarding forever.