Women urged to get their skates on

FEMALE SKATEBOARDERS are taking part in a joint research project co-led by a Yorkshire university, in a bid to encourage more women to take up the sport.

Women who take part in the sport are to be questioned about their identity, and their place in the community, by researchers from Sheffield Hallam University and Nottingham Trent University.

The project will examine barriers to the sport, including lack of access to specialist skate parks.

It will work at two skateparks in Nottingham and Manchester to see how often girls are skating there and how they interact with male skateboarders.

Professor Carrie Paechter of Nottingham Trent University said: “Through this project we want to discover the relationship between skateboarding and girls’ identities, including their gender identity, social class and ethnicity. We’ll be looking at how they behave and interact with others at the skatepark, what influences and incentivises them, and whether there are any physical, social, or other constraints to their participation.”

Dr Dani Abulhawa, senior lecturer in Performance at Sheffield Hallam University, said: “I‘m really excited about how our research will lead to increased support for non-traditional participants to take part in skateboarding and to participate freely and confidently in public urban space.

Former skateboarder Chris Lawton will also sit on the research team for the project.