Construction equipment driver, firefighter, diver – a small fraction of the hundred professions that are not available to women in Russia. This is because we have a special list of positions in which Russian women are prohibited from working. The authorities explain the restrictions by concern for women’s health. Tanya Tyuvilina believes that bans are not really a concern at all, but discrimination.
What is the list of prohibited professions?
Work prohibitions for women appeared in the USSR back in 1922. Then the restrictions concerned “particularly difficult and harmful to health production and underground work.” Also, women could not work night shifts, and pregnant and breastfeeding women were prohibited from taking overtime.
In 1978 in the USSR it turned out resolution, which became the basis for the current list. The list included 456 professions that were no longer available to women. Shrunk it’s only in 2021. Women received the right to work as drivers of heavy trucks, electric and train drivers, and aircraft mechanics. However, another hundred professions remained unavailable.
In the list itself indicated several reasons why women are prohibited from certain jobs.
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The conditions are hazardous to reproductive health. For example, chemical production or the production of pulp, paper and cardboard.
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Professions with high physical activity. These include some positions in the field of railway transport and mining. (Yes, yes, the very mines that anti-feminists usually drive girls to are prohibited for women. How ironic.)
Government officials do not consider the list of prohibited professions to be discrimination. Chairman of the Federation Council Committee on Social Policy Inna Svyatenko explained TASS that the list is “legal protection against dangerous working conditions that can cause harm to health.” At the same time, the head of the committee emphasized that the state is primarily concerned with the reproductive function of women and the health of the future generation.
“There is simply a certain list of professions that are dangerous to women’s health. This is due to the fact that a woman is also a mother, and the ability to bear, give birth to, and raise a child, its health, and therefore the future of the country depends on her. The state guards the health of women and children; this is a demographic aspect.”
General Director of the NAFI Analytical Center Guzelia Imaeva believes that women still retain “the most important social role associated with motherhood.” And the list of prohibited professions may be reduced if production processes become safer.
Why it’s not professions that are actually harmful, but prohibitions
Women already work in dangerous professions
Police officers, doctors in hot spots, war correspondents – all these professions are associated with risk, but are available to women now. But only a man can be a diver, firefighter or oil industry worker. Since the authorities talk about working conditions and hide behind concern for women, it is not clear why some dangerous professions are okay, while others are not.
The fact that certain professions are prohibited by law does not mean that women do not work in them.
No one is canceling “gray” income, when de jure you do one thing, but de facto you do something else.
In addition, for some reason the state is concerned about the health of women in completely legitimate professions. No one is in a hurry to create social programs for sex workers that would pull women out of this sphere or somehow protect them from violence. Everything here suits everyone.
The hypocrisy of the prohibitions is particularly amusing. Here it is on the list is listed a clause stating that work in crop production, livestock farming, poultry farming and fur farming using pesticides, pesticides and disinfectants is prohibited. And in parentheses the postscript is under the age of 35.
I wonder what happens after 35? Do chemicals not magically affect the health of forty-year-olds? Or are pesticides afraid of mature women? Or maybe the authorities simply value a woman’s ability to give birth to more children? Maybe its role as an incubator is simply important? Is a woman in herself not as valuable as her uterus? You’ll never be able to figure out which of this is true!
The list strips women of their autonomy.
Although representatives of various departments claim that the prohibited professions are not discrimination at all, it is difficult to deny that the list does not reduce the choice for women. Because the fact is this: the genitals between your legs determine whether you can put out fires or work underwater.
The quibble that some jobs are physically difficult is incomprehensible. Yes, lifting weights can indeed cause health problems in women, such as uterine prolapse. But even men in childhood are not dipped into the magical decoction from the film “Asterix and Obelix” – few are protected from spinal hernia. Men who are physically able to work in hazardous enterprises are selected according to certain criteria. Why can’t the same be done with women? Look not at their gender, but at their endurance and strength? Women can cope – this is proven by countries where prohibited professions simply do not exist: Germany, USA, Georgia. And in Russia there were exceptions.
Anna Shpenova is a mother of two children and a former employee of the Ministry of Emergency Situations. She devoted nine years to an important task – putting out fires. In 2019, the Moscow 24 TV channel interviewed her.
When asked whether it is difficult for a woman to be a firefighter, Anna noted that the profession is difficult both physically and mentally for any person. She does not agree that being a firefighter is only a man’s job. In her opinion, any woman with suitable parameters can become an excellent rescuer.
“There are men who have never held anything heavier than a tablespoon in their hands. And there are women that not every man will choose what they do. Each person is physically developed in his own way, each has his own genetics, mental structure,”
Anna is an example that women can cope with dangerous and physically exhausting professions. However, work did not prevent her from raising two children alone. Checkmate, guardians of motherhood.
Prohibited professions create stereotypical thinking
The favorite argument of supporters of prohibitions is harm to reproductive function. But firstly, not all women prioritize parenthood. Some people don’t want children at all. Secondly, it is not clear since when the male reproductive system is invulnerable.
According to According to Mayo Clinic specialists, one of the causes of male infertility is an environmental factor. Industrial chemistry, heavy metals like lead, radiation, and elevated temperatures in places of production inhibit reproductive function. Wow, what an incredible discovery: hard work can harm not only women, but also men.
I think the restrictions for women are due to the fact that the idea is firmly ingrained in the minds of conservatives: the mother is the main parent.
And in order for women to adhere to their stereotypical role, it is easier to ban everything that jeopardizes this status.
The list of prohibited professions only further entrenches the myth about the division of professions into “female” and “male”. “Oh, you really want to carry an asphalt paver, you’re all sitting in offices,” the list’s defenders complain with displeasure. But for some reason they ignore women from small settlements, who are mainly employed, for example, in the agricultural sector. And guess three times for whom certain positions in this area are prohibited.
For those who like to go into the mines, I would like to say that in other countries women actually do mining work. AND they complain, by the way, not for physically exhausting or dangerous work, but for violence, sexist remarks and harassment. Anna Shpenova, by the way, also encountered prejudice while working as a firefighter – only three years later they began to treat her as an equal.
Women working in male-dominated industries are more often exposed sexualized harassment. Because of stereotypes colleagues question their leadership qualities. Women are treated dismissively, frivolously and disrespectfully. And the lists of prohibited professions only exacerbate the already obvious inequality in rights. The law encourages women to be told, “You don’t belong here.”
What’s the result?
The bottom line is that women are deprived of choice. They cannot go into a certain area, because the state decided for them what is possible and what is not. These restrictions do not apply to men. All doors are open for them. And you, girl, don’t pry, you have one role assigned to you – maternal.
Supporters of prohibited professions do not care at all whether a woman even wants to be a mother or how physically resilient she is. They follow a prescribed patriarchal script, where the main character is a man, and the woman acts as a voiceless decoration. So it turns out that in modern Russia no woman can stop a galloping horse – work on caring for stallions is prohibited. And he won’t go into a burning hut (pardon the pun) – the law is not supposed to put out fires.