Woman demands right to captain ship in legal challenge to Russian ban on females filling 400 different jobs

The state deems them to be too 'dangerous' or 'harmful' to their reproductive health

Women are barred from driving trains under Russian employment law (Grigory Dukor/Reuters)

A female navigation officer is suing a Russian shipping company for refusing to employ her as a ship’s captain.

Russian labour laws restrict women from more than 400 professions and 38 industries on the basis that they are too “arduous”, “dangerous” or “harmful” to women’s health, specifically their reproductive health.

Svetlana Medvedeva, a navigation officer from Russia’s southeastern Samara region, applied for a job as a ship’s captain at Samara River Passenger Enterprise in 2012.

But the company’s initial consent to hire her was withdrawn because of the law.

“For many years Svetlana Medvedeva has fought relentlessly to achieve her dream to stand at the helm of a river vessel,” said Denis Krivosheev, Amnesty International's deputy director for Europe and Central Asia.

“However, the state, in the country that once pioneered women’s rights, continues to deny her this opportunity because of discriminatory restrictions".

The current list of jobs women are barred from, originally drawn up by the Soviet Union in 1974, stands at 456. Women are also prevented from driving trains, becoming carpenters, truck drivers or professional divers.

In 2000, the Russian Government amended the rules to allow for exemptions only if safe working conditions were established by the employer.

After she was barred from taking the captain job, Ms Medvedeva challenged the rejection of her job application in court.

She sought a judicial order to force the company to establish safe working conditions so she could work, but her claim was rejected.

In 2013, Ms Medvedeva registered a complaint before the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, arguing her rights had been violated because of her gender.

The committee found in favour of Ms Medvedeva and urged the Russian authorities to grant her compensation and allow her to take the job.

In July 2017, Russia’s Supreme Court ruled that her case should be re-opened. Her trial begins in Samara’s District Court on 31 August.

“Russia was the first major European country to grant women suffrage in 1917. The first female ambassador, in 1923, was from Russia, and so was the first woman in space,” said Mr Krivosheev.

“It’s time the Russian authorities drew inspiration from these remarkable women and put an end to the shameful regulations that hold women back and perpetuate stereotypes.”