Physical Address

304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124

Russia to let women work in mines as war causes manpower shortage

Kremlin backtracks on ban, claiming advances in technology mean the female body can cope with ‘tough jobs’, amid military recruitment drive

The Kremlin is preparing to drop a ban on women working in open-pit mines and quarries to make up for a manpower shortage triggered by its war in Ukraine.
Moscow said that advances in technology meant that women could now cope with “tough jobs” that only men had previously been allowed to do.
“The modernisation of industrial processes and work organisation has eliminated the harmful effects on the female body when operating self-propelled machines,” said Russia’s ministry of labour.
In 2000, Russia banned women from working in 456 professions.
It cut the list of male-only jobs to about 100 in 2021, allowing women to work as truck drivers, drive underground metro trains and become crew on cargo ships, but not fight in its army’s combat units.
Analysts have warned that the Kremlin’s aggressive military recruitment drive has drained its economy of vital manpower and forced it to ask women to take on jobs in industry and arms production.
The recruitment campaign offers inflated salaries and other perks to military-aged men, feeding them into the Kremlin’s burgeoning army of more than 1 million soldiers to rapidly replace more than 600,000 casualties it has suffered since its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
A nurse in Russia said that she could more than triple her salary to about £1,500 a month if she signed up to do her work on the front lines. A man signing up as a soldier can expect an even higher salary increase.
“We have a shortage in a lot of professions,” said the nurse, who chose to remain anonymous.
“People are choosing high salaries. These salaries are not really that high, but are enough to live off, for a mortgage and for a child’s education.”
Russia’s soaring wartime salaries have also accelerated inflation to 9 per cent, double the central bank’s target. The bank recently raised its interest rate to 19 per cent – its highest level since the start of the war.
As well as turning to women to plug the gap in its workforce, the Kremlin last year also approved a scheme for convicts to work in factories and warehouses.

en_USEnglish