Moscow metro hires first female drivers after a decades-long ban

Trains on Moscow's famous metro subway system has hired female drivers for the first time in its recent history, following recent changes in controversial Russian legislation prohibiting women from many professions.

Women were allowed to drive trains from 1936, but a ban on hiring new female drivers in Moscow was introduced in the late 1980s. The legislation has been altered byRussia's ministry of labour.

The first 12 women have joined the ranks ofMoscowmetro drivers from January 1 after thedecades-long ban.The changes have cut the list of jobs not available for women for so-called health reasons from 456 to 98.

The Russian capital's transport system, which oversees the sprawling metro system, said in a statement that "the first female electric train drivers in modern history started working for theMoscowmetro."

Built in the Soviet era as a Communist showpiece, the metro's trains were historically operated by men because the work was listed on the government's register of jobs deemed harmful for women's health.

The ban on access for women to many professions was widely criticised and a labour ministry decree in September last year cut the number of exclusively male professions from 456 to around 100.

The justification that driving metro trains was dangerous because it meant being underground for long periods came under fire because the metro also employs women as cleaners, cashiers and escalator monitors.

TheMoscowtransport department said due to the automation of mechanical processes, operating trains is no longer "associated with heavy physical exertion".

The list has long been called outdated by women's rights activists who said that some jobs - including metro train drivers - are well paid and could be taken by skilled women without any limitations.

The job was listed among "hard jobs with harmful or dangerous conditions" which could not be filled by women. The ban led to at least one legal dispute in 2009 which was lost by a woman Anna Klevets.

Russian media reported that in 2010 only one out of around 2,000 train drivers inMoscowmetro was female.

Due to the recent law changes, from January 1, 2021, Russian women can also be employed as tractor drivers, long-haul truckers, boatswain and able seamen, among other previously unavailable professions.

Russian legislation still bars women from working at certain chemical production lines as well as a number of physical jobs in mining and metallurgy, oil extraction and some other industries.

Moscowmetro said, for now, female drivers will only be working on one underground line which has modern trains and lower levels of noise.

According toMoscow's deputy mayor in charge of transport Maksim Liksutov, 25 women have entered training to become train drivers last year, and less then a half of them graduated.

More women have already applied for the job, Liksutov said. He stressed that the first group of female train drivers were chosen from among metro employees who wanted to change their profession and that the second group will also be comprised of internal candidates.

Metro says it plans to make the job available for others sometime later.

Liksutov saidMoscowmetro has designed special uniforms for women and gave them a choice between a skirt and trousers.

Moscowmetro, which is one of the most heavily travelled subway systems in the world, employs around 60,000 people with over 21,000 of them being women. The metro used to transport about 9 million people a day.