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Women in Russia will soon be able to work in more than 350 professions that had previously been banned because of labor limitations that prevail with hardly any changes since the Soviet era . The list of prohibited jobs for Russians will be reduced from 456 to 79. "Working conditions in many workplaces are improving and it is a good reason to eliminate the restrictions," a senior official of the Ministry told Rosiskaya Gazeta official newspaper of work.

Women will finally be allowed to work as truck drivers and train operators, as well as serve in the navy : all of these were previously forbidden professions for them. The order of the Ministry of Labor enters into force on January 1, 2020.

The Soviet Union first made the list of prohibited jobs in 1974. The reason: to protect the security and "reproductive health" of women , two parameters that were considered vital in a socialist society. Russian President Vladimir Putin updated this list in 2000, but many vocations remained frustrated by law.

Svetlana Medvedeva, 33, studied at the Samara Nautical School, a city of one million inhabitants founded by Tsar Teodoro I in 1586. She is still an assistant captain, although she graduated in 2005 as a navigation officer. During the studies, nobody notified him of the legal restrictions. In 2012 he applied for a job as a ship captain of the Samara waterway company for passengers and for a moment they told him that the position was his. Afterwards, the company backed down due to these anachronistic labor laws: "Officially, women in the navy can only work in lower positions," Medvedeva explains to EL MUNDO. His city has a local fleet that operates by the mighty Volga, but they only allowed him to be a sailor.

"Salaries are very low and women do not earn more than 15,000 rubles [205 euros]." Svetlana explains that he could not look for work in another city, since he has two small children. "I was proposed to exercise, exceptionally, as motor mechanics." But his qualification was much higher.

In Russia, his attempts to claim in court failed, but in May 2013 he filed a complaint with the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) for violation of his rights. In his report he claimed that the company had denied him a job because of his sex . There the decree on professions prohibited for women was described as discriminatory. The last trial in his case, already in Samara, recognized the supremacy of international law over Russian.

The Medvedeva case has become the first in history in which a foreign law eliminates the professional barriers imposed on a Russian citizen . However, the authorities have not yet agreed to give the green light to hire Svetlana. "The Russian Federation also fails to comply with what has been dictated by the UN committee," she explains, insisting that "neither the list of prohibited professions has been withdrawn, nor its removal is planned, and I have not been paid any compensation. , nor is it planned. "

She currently works as a captain and small boat engineer, another banned position but where she has been able to stay up to date. "The government has forced me to withdraw from the personnel registry for ships, thus rejecting the qualifications and diplomas I have." Regarding whether he has had the solidarity of his colleagues, he replies that " colleagues are not particularly interested in this issue ."

In Russia, women earn an average of 30% less than men. The Ministry does not rule out that the list of prohibited professions for women continues to be shortened, "always according to specialists, unions and businessmen", which in turn are mostly men. But gender-based roles still dominate Russian society. According to an Ipsos study published in 2017, 54% of Russians think that men are more capable than women . Only the Chinese exceed this figure, with 56%. India, Japan and Turkey follow Russia, and after them the United States goes with 22%. In Spain, the percentage of people who see women as inferior is 9%.

Legal equality will not come so easily . An order of the Ministry of Labor published last month in the legal portal of the Russian government lists the jobs that must remain closed to them: jobs in mining and construction, metallurgy and other industries that still require labor. Professions that require heavy lifting, such as welding, aircraft repair or firefighting , will remain off limits.

"There are prohibited occupations not only in Russia but also in many countries of the former Soviet Union, and the lists are almost identical," says Medvedeva. "A country that pioneered rights for women continues to deny this opportunity due to discriminatory restrictions," laments Denis Krivosheyev, who has spent years in the Amnesty International department for Europe and Central Asia. During most of the Soviet period there were hardly any restrictions. Before 1974, women had worked in currently banned positions, as a subway machinist.

On the military level , some progress has been made in recent years . In 2017 the Russian army resumed the training of female military pilots for the first time since the end of the Soviet Union. But last year eight women sued the Ministry of Defense and the Russian National Guard for not being able to serve as snipers or in other Special Forces positions. General Igor Virukhin, in charge of recruitment in the National Guard said that "it is not a female function ." In Russia some have been surprised by this statement: the sniper women made a crucial contribution to the victory in World War II. Liudmila Pavlichenkova, the most decorated of all, killed 309 Nazis. But it seems that prejudices are more difficult to annihilate.

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