Russia lifts ban on women truck drivers
RUSSIA is set to allow women to take jobs as truck and train drivers, and to operate heavy machinery, lifting a ban that was intended to protect their health.
A list of jobs and professions prohibited for women will be amended in the near future, Labour Minister Maxim Topilin saud yesterday.
The list contains 456 professions in 39 industries – mostly those requiring work with various chemicals, heavy machinery or complex vehicles – that are considered dangerous for women’s health. It was adopted in 1974 and last revised in 2000.
Women will now be allowed to take jobs in six categories: bread-making, sea, river, air and railway transport, driving heavy trucks and specialised vehicles.
It wasn’t immediately clear precisely which trades will be removed. Women are not allowed to do work that involves operating heavy machinery in baking, being a member of deck and engine crews on ships, driving different kinds of trains and doing certain types of maintenance on trains, planes and ships.
“Adopting an amended list will give women more job opportunities,” Mr Topilin said. The minister said it was important to revise the list as the job market tightened – for women and men – because of the increasing role of technology and modern equipment.
The issue of professions that are banned for women in Russia made headlines in 2016, when the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women sided with 30-year-old Svetlana Medvedeva, who had been trying to become a ship captain since 2012. She was promoted after the UN ruling.