Today women in Russia claim wages on average 17% lower than men.

This indicator has slightly decreased in recent years - back in 2015, the gap was about 20%.

Such data were presented to RT by experts from the Avito Rabota analytical center.

According to the organization, now Russian women on average want to receive 25 thousand rubles a month for a full working day, while men - 30 thousand rubles.

We are talking about the so-called median salary - a statistical value that shows that half of the population requests less than the specified value, and half - more.

The gradual decrease in gender inequality in the salaries of Russians is also noted by the specialists of the Rabota.ru service.

As the deputy general director of the company, Alexander Veterkov, told RT, five years ago, among those applying for the same positions, salary expectations for women were on average 20-25% lower than for men.

At present, according to him, the figure has dropped to 10-15%, depending on the region and professional area.

According to Avito Rabota, the largest gap in expected salaries is currently observed in the “Domestic staff” occupation group.

In these areas, women claim wages on average 56% lower than men.

A similar situation can be observed in the resume for the areas of "Safety and Security" (33%), "Administrative work" and "Banks, investments" (29%), as well as "Human Resources" (25%).

“This state of affairs is partly due to the difference in specializations.

For example, in the field of domestic staff, women are more likely to work as nannies, and men as managers, "said Dmitry Puchkov, category manager of Avito Rabota, in an interview with RT.

The lowest difference between expected salaries was recorded in the group of professions "Transport, logistics" and "Automotive business" (14%), as well as "Sales" (12%).

At the same time, there are areas where applicants apply for the same earnings, regardless of gender.

We are talking about offers for students or candidates without work experience, as well as the directions "Fitness, beauty salons" and "Construction".

“For traditionally job vacancies like a cook or a waiter, salary requests from job seekers practically do not differ.

The situation is different with management positions, where the difference in requests reaches 20%.

At the same time, women count on even higher salaries for positions in the field of recruitment or education, ”noted Alexander Veterkov.

As the chief analyst of TeleTrade Group, Mark Goikhman, told RT, the differences in requests for men and women are associated with the existing difference in real market salaries.

The expert explains this by the factual gender inequality common to many countries, including developed ones.

“However, this gap is narrowing as society develops.

For example, until 2012, women in Russia actually earned on average 33–35% less than men.

Today this difference has decreased to 28%.

Such dynamics also leads to a gradual reduction in the gap in salary expectations, ”explained Goikhman.

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Experts also associate the gender gap in wages observed in most industries with the willingness of women to work for less money, believes Alexander Veterkov.

Moreover, according to him, some Russian women sacrifice their career growth for the sake of the family, which leads to an uneven distribution of women and men in the labor market.

“Women often agree to lower wages if they are given flexible hours or the opportunity to work remotely, especially Russian women with small children.

In this case, they are ready to postpone their work and take a long break in their careers, ”the expert added.

Against this background, according to Avito Rabota data, at the moment the share of women among the total number of job seekers in Russia is about 40%.

Finding balance

In the coming years, gender inequality in expected salaries in Russia will continue to decline, experts at Rabota.ru are sure.

As Aleksandr Veterkov explained, the younger generation of women is more ambitious, so over the next ten years the gap may narrow to 5-7%.

To a certain extent, government initiatives have a positive impact on the ratio of incomes between men and women.

Svetlana Bessarab, a member of the State Duma committee on labor, social policy and veterans affairs, expressed this point of view in an interview with RT.

Thus, since 2017, the authorities have been implementing a national strategy for action in the interests of women.

One of its main objectives is to eliminate gender discrimination in the labor market.

“The program has already yielded positive results.

More and more women are taking an active part in politics.

Thus, in the segment of municipal administration, more than 50% of positions are held by women.

In both chambers of parliament, most of the seats are still held by men, but even there women have noticeably increased over the past decade, ”the MP said.

From January 1, 2021, an updated list of industries, jobs and positions in which the work of women is limited will begin to operate in Russia. The list will include about 100 professions inaccessible to Russian women, whereas today there are more than 450 of them. Such an initiative will also reduce the gender pay gap, Svetlana Bessarab is sure.