Gender solidarity: how the lifting of bans on the profession affects the market

Both women and men in our country are almost equally divided into those who support the ban on women from engaging in hard or dangerous work, and those who are for complete equality of opportunity, analysts at Kelly Services found out.

In the summer of 2019, the then Minister of Labor of our country Maxim Topilin signed an order approving the list of jobs where the work of women is limited. The order came into force on January 1, 2021. The result was the reduction of prohibited professions for women in our country from the current 456 to 100.

To find out how our country relates to the changes, even before the order came into force, Kelly Services conducted a survey in which 653 respondents took part.

The key question was: “Do you think there should be professions that are forbidden for women?” An interesting fact that first of all attracts attention is a very small difference between the answers of women and men. Opinions were divided almost equally among both men and women on those who are for and against these restrictions.

It is important to understand that lifting the ban can be a way for women to increase their income, since professions that are usually prohibited for women are paid higher. The ability of women to enter these positions will increase competition for jobs. There is a possibility of very slight changes in the level of wages, no more than 5%.

It is worth noting that about half of the respondents agreed that women can and should compete with men and get the opportunity to earn more. And only 4% fear lower wages.

There are fears that because of the opportunity to earn more, women will expose themselves to risks. This is true, but only in part. For example, women, indeed, cannot yet work as loaders, but the fact is that such female roles have existed at enterprises for quite a long time, they are simply called differently – pickers, relocation specialists.

I had one very interesting case in practice. The client invited us to the production, where we met a woman who worked in the most difficult and dangerous section of the assembly line for 8 years. During this time, she managed to increase her productivity by 6 times. And, of course, the company madly valued her, was not ready to take anyone from outside. But this is more the exception than the rule.

The vast majority of respondents in the course of the study considered the work of a truck driver, train driver, car mechanic, parachutist and tractor driver to be quite suitable for women. Interestingly, only 19% of men are alarmed by the choice of a non-traditional profession by a woman. The majority (76%) will take the choice calmly.

It should be noted that not all of these professions will be removed from the list of prohibited ones. Much also depends on the type of enterprise. There is a difference between a tractor driver in agricultural production and a mining enterprise.

Almost all respondents see no problem in a man working as an accountant, school teacher, designer and steward. And not only society, but also business sees no problems in this. Many airlines have become very positive about stewards over the past few years. Now they, on the contrary, want at least one man to be on the team.

At the same time, almost 90% of women consider it acceptable for a man to work as a make-up artist and cosmetologist. Fewer men agreed. In general, women are more loyal to the non-traditional choice of a profession by a man: 85% will react to this normally.

We do not expect that after 2021 the market will instantly and radically change, and women will immediately go to work in traditionally male professions. Even if companies are willing to hire women for certain jobs, they simply won’t have the experience. To be a truck driver, you must have a license and experience. There are simply no women with such experience, since before there was no point in going to study at a driving school. Therefore, we believe that the labor market will slowly adapt.

The list of prohibited professions applies to workers whose working conditions are classified as harmful and dangerous. At the same time, over time, working conditions change for the better, various automated and robotic devices perform dangerous work, so it becomes possible to allow women into these professions.

This is exactly what has happened in a number of professions over the past two decades. Therefore, women are now “open” to the sky and the sea. Technological progress and progress in society are inextricably linked. The economic development of the country directly depends on both. Let’s look at this list in five to ten years?