Without unnecessary stereotypes: why Russian women began to choose "male" professions more often

In Russia, the idea of ​​purely “male” and “female” professions is gradually changing.

This conclusion was made by the specialists of the Avito Rabota service.

As company experts told RT, recently Russian women have become much more interested in vacancies in stereotypically “male” industries.

So, in 2022, there were 40% more female applicants in the Russian transport and logistics sector compared to 2021, in the IT sector - by 35%, and in construction - by 32%.

At the same time, analysts note an increase in the number of male candidates for positions that were previously considered more “feminine”.

For example, in the beauty industry, the number of such resumes increased by 42% in a year.

“In general, in the labor market, boundaries and ideas about typically “male” and typically “female” areas of activity are becoming a thing of the past.

The applicants themselves began to listen more sensitively to themselves and, above all, follow their desires when choosing a profession, ”Artyom Kumpel, managing director of the Avito Rabota platform, said in a conversation with RT.

The expert partly explains the observed trend by the actions of the country's authorities.

As Kumpel recalled, the issues of women's career development and their equal rights in the labor field remain one of the priority areas of Russia's state policy.

So, in 2021, the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of the Russian Federation reduced the list of jobs and industries where the work of women is limited from 456 positions to 100. As a result, positions such as a driver of heavy vehicles and agricultural special equipment, an electric train driver and other specialties became available to Russian women .

In March 2022, the Ministry of Labor further expanded the list of professions allowed for Russian women and included a number of positions in the aviation, oilfield and technical fields.

At the same time, some types of chemical production, as well as heavy underground and mining work, are still prohibited for women.

Global trends also have a certain impact on the Russian labor market, says Artyom Deev, head of the analytical department at AMarkets.

Against this background, employers and job seekers in the country are becoming more tolerant of the fact that women will be employed in the usual “male” jobs, and vice versa, the expert added.

“In recent years, we have worked for many foreign companies, where the absence of gender stereotypes in employment was of great importance.

As a result, there are many more women in top positions in Russia, and not only in business, but also in politics, ”the RT interlocutor emphasized.

It should be noted that at the end of 2022, the government approved the National Action Strategy for Russian Women until 2030.

According to the order of Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, the initiative is aimed at observing the principle of equality in various spheres of life, as well as at increasing the economic independence and political activity of Russian women.

As emphasized in the Cabinet, the residents of the country are focused on full employment and career growth, combined with family responsibilities and raising children.

At the same time, their share in industries where wages remain below the average for the economy ranges from 60 to 80%.

Moreover, even with a high level of education and employment, the wage gap between women and men is still significant at 28%.

“These and other problems are supposed to be solved, among other things, by creating an interest among the fair sex in technical and technological specialties, involving women in the digital economy, creating a system of continuous education and advanced training, developing distance forms of employment, and expanding the participation of women in the field of entrepreneurship” , the government said.

Expectations Difference

Today in Russia there is a high difference not only between the received, but also the expected salaries of men and women.

This gap is about 26%, as analysts from the hh.ru service told RT.

According to the company, Russian women are ready to receive an average of 39.2 thousand rubles a month for a full-time job, while male applicants expect 53.3 thousand rubles. 

In 2022, hh.ru experts recorded the maximum difference in salary expectations between men and women in Chukotka (30 thousand rubles) and in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug (28.3 thousand rubles).

A gap of slightly less than 20 thousand rubles was noted in Ingushetia, Bashkortostan, the Magadan and Amur regions, the Trans-Baikal Territory and the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug.

At the same time, some of the lowest values ​​(about 8-10 thousand rubles) were observed in the Ivanovo and Ulyanovsk regions, in Altai, as well as in Tuva, Chechnya and North Ossetia.

However, the minimum difference in salary expectations today can be seen in Moscow and St. Petersburg - 5.5 thousand and 6.8 thousand rubles, respectively, for the 30 most popular positions in the labor market.

Such RT data was presented in the SuperJob service.

Moreover, as follows from the materials of the company, in both cities there are areas where women are already claiming higher salaries compared to men.

In particular, we are talking about such vacancies as a financial analyst, economist and architect.

“In the largest cities, competition for certain positions is higher.

As a result, the employer chooses an employee not on the basis of gender and the level of salary expectations, but on professional competencies, suitability for the position or assigned tasks.

In the regions, companies often try to save more on employee salaries, which affects what salary women expect and what men expect,” explained Artyom Deev.

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In addition, depending on the region, the difference in wages may also be due to physical differences between the sexes.

Aghvan Mikaelyan, a member of the board of directors of the audit and consulting network FinExpertiza, shared this opinion in an interview with RT.

“For example, in a number of regions hard physical labor prevails, the shift method of work is widespread, the share of heavy industry is high, and the climatic conditions are quite severe.

In such a labor market, men have an advantage, while women are employed in less paid sectors, ”the specialist explained.

In addition, companies are often willing to pay men more, since they have the opportunity to stay late at work and go on business trips, Marina Lvova, organizational development director for hh.ru, told RT.

Women, she said, are more likely to refuse to leave their city, and are also forced to leave work early to pick up their child from kindergarten, and regularly take sick leave if he falls ill.

In addition, as the expert noted, many employers have a prejudice that a man needs to be paid more because he has to support his family.

In this regard, business in Russia has long preferred to hire male employees, although in recent months there have been a number of positive trends associated with an increase in the number of invitations to women, Lvova added.

“As for the strategy to support women, we are facing a difficult social situation.

It is difficult to ensure gender equality if public kindergartens are open until 18:00 and there are no actual nurseries.

That is, in reality, women often cannot work until the child is three years old.

Therefore, we believe that the state needs to provide a woman with the opportunity to work and pay more attention to the social sphere, ”the RT interlocutor concluded.