Russian women will be able to get jobs servicing aircraft for the first time in decades starting next year, according to a Labor Ministry order published Tuesday.
The Soviet Union first introduced the list of banned jobs in the 1970s to protect women’s safety and reproductive health. The list persisted into modern-day Russia despite technological improvements automating many of the physically demanding aspects of these jobs.
The latest Labor Ministry order, which takes effect on March 1, 2022, removes restrictions preventing women from becoming aviation maintenance technicians or engineers who repair planes and helicopters.
It comes months after Russia slashed its number of banned occupations for women from 476 to 100, allowing women to work as metro and electric train drivers, boatswains and sailors, drivers of heavy trucks and more.
Inna Svyatenko, the head of the Federation Council’s committee on social policy, had urged the ministry to expand the list of jobs available to women even further, she told the state-run TASS news agency. She said she believes that it’s unfair to forbid a woman to get a job in her specialization.
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