This past Sunday, advocates for gender equity in sports won big when ?Learning How to Skateboard in a Warzone (If You?re a Girl)? took home the Oscar for Best Documentary (short subject). The film follows a group of young girls who are learning the craft of skateboarding in Kabul, Afghanistan from Skateistan?s teachers.
Skateistan is an international nonprofit focused on empowering children through education and skateboarding. It accomplishes its mission of empowering children through five educational and skateboard training programs and an online forum called the Good Push Alliance. Since its inception in 2008, its efforts to combine education and skating to empower children have expanded to Cambodia and South Africa.
This award was not only a win for Skateistan and film director, Carol Dysinger, but also for girls and advocates for gender equity around the world. As discussed in our very first blog post, girls across the globe have been socialized to believe that sports are not for them (which we know is not true!). As such, the themes in this film can feed into the necessary social change to promote gender equity and support our girls.
You can stream ?Learning how to Skate in A Warzone (If You?re a Girl)? on Hulu.
By Jess McKay, GIL Team Member