Women's Employment in Railway Transport: Gender Equality or

Discrimination?

Uliana Evgenevna Loginovskikh

and Tatiana Valentinovna Duran

Ural Management Institute, Russian Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, Ekaterinburg, Russia

Ural State University of Railway Transport, Ekaterinburg, Russia

Keywords: Transport enterprises, employment, gender equality and inequality, unemployment, gender.

Abstract: The article considers the gender aspects of employment at modern enterprises of transport dispatch, first of

all, the main attention is paid to the employment of women at the enterprises of Russian Railways; it reveals

that the gender of an employee has a significant impact on the employer's decision when hiring. Both

negative and positive trends in the influence of the gender factor on the employment of modern women at

Russian Railways enterprises are characterized. Based on the analysis of statistical data and the results of

secondary sociological research, it is determined that despite the fixation of gender equality in employment

at the legislative level, in real practice of working with personnel at the enterprises of Russian Railways

there is an influence of gender stereotypes in favor of men in hiring for specific positions.

1 INTRODUCTION

In the Labor Code of the Russian Federation there

are certain provisions that prohibit the restriction of

rights on the basis of gender in the labor sphere.

Despite this, it is very often women who face

discrimination in employment, career advancement,

wages, accrual of benefits. This is especially

relevant when analyzing female employment in the

enterprises of Russian Railways.

The development of the economy and market

relations on the basis of the rapid introduction of

digital technology makes new demands on the

competencies of workers, prompting them to make

efforts to actively adapt to the conditions of

production. In turn, employers are forced to abandon

many of the stereotypes associated with the division

of professions into male and female, which are

characteristic of the enterprises of the transport

complex. As some theoretical analysis shows, the

influence of gender stereotypes on personnel

management decision making in transport

enterprises has all the charateristics that are

characteristic of enterprises in other sectors of the

economic complex.

2 ANALYSIS OF WOMEN'S

EMPLOYMENT

The mechanism of self-regulation of the labor

market includes such elements as demand, which is

the total demand for labor resources, regardless of

the price for them, and supply in the labor market,

which can be defined as the total supply of the

owners of labor resources in the country at any set

prices (Solovova, 2016).

The size of wages, competition among workers

and among employers are the main indicators of the

mechanism of self-regulation of the labor market.

The level of employment of the population, the size

of wages, the structure of unemployment are set

under the influence of this mechanism. At the same

time, work at Russian Railways enterprises has been

and remains prestigious because employees receive

a good salary, social issues, and subsequent pension

security. This gives the employer the right to select

those employees who will work with maximum

efficiency, and these are usually men.

Long-term and mass unemployment are

characteristic features of female unemployment. Let

us consider these features in more detail.

(

Tskhadadze, 2015).

The mass characteristic is explained by the fact

that in the socio-demographic group of women there

Loginovskikh, U. and Duran, T.

Womenâ

Zs Employment in Railway Transport: Gender Equality or Discrimination?.

DOI: 10.5220/0011579200003527

In Proceedings of the 1st International Scientiﬁc and Practical Conference on Transport: Logistics, Construction, Maintenance, Management (TLC2M 2022), pages 78-81

ISBN: 978-989-758-606-4

 2023 by SCITEPRESS – Science and Technology Publications, Lda. Under CC license (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

are such social categories of women where the share

of the unemployed is much higher than among other

subgroups. Most often this category includes women

who are raising children alone, single women of

retirement age, families with disabled children,

widows and divorced women. (

Hartmann, 2013) They

are defined as a socially vulnerable subgroup in need

of social support and protection, an important

component of which is employment.

Long-termism as a sign of female unemployment

is characterized by the fact that employers are not

willing to provide optimal working conditions for a

number of categories of women, which, along with

the generally accepted ones, include: an unstable

working schedule, short working hours, going on

"sick leave" in connection with illnesses of children,

the opportunity to provide women with maternity

leave, meeting the conditions of the Labor Code of

the Russian Federation.

Analysis of statistical data on women's

employment and unemployment shows the

significant role of women in the functioning and

development of Russian society. Thus, as of 2018-

2020. 48% of all workers in the national economy

are women. At the same time the share of workers

with higher education among women is higher than

among men - 62% and 50% respectively. But despite

the downward trend in unemployment that the

country has shown over the past few years, a large

proportion of women are unable to find decent jobs.

The majority of the unemployed in our country are

women, they are in the region of 60% (of all the

unemployed). Moreover, 8 out of 10 unemployed

women have ever been to the labor exchange. It is

much more than the number of applications from

men (Laikam, 2020). It should be noted that even

after employment many women, especially those

with 2 or more children, cannot count on a salary

that fully supported the family. Thus, according to

Rosstat of the Russian Federation, the gender gap in

wages between men and women in 2019 was 27.9%,

which is an expression of gender asymmetry, which

has adverse effects:

− average per capita income is falling, which in

turn impoverishes families;

− negative impact on the pace of development of

the national economy, because there is an

underutilization of the motivated, educated,

highly qualified labor force represented by

women;

− the development of the informal sector of the

economy, which absorbs part of the female

population;

− the negative impact on women's physical and

psychological health, which can have negative

social consequences (criminal behavior,

parental neglect, drug and alcohol abuse,

vagrancy).

A number of studies have been conducted on

female unemployment in Russia. It turned out that

the level of female unemployment is interconnected

with two factors - the number of marriages and the

birth rate. The results of the study showed that

marriage and childbirth have an equal effect on the

change in the level of female unemployment, but in

a different direction. That is, with an increase in the

number of marriages by 1%, unemployment among

women on average will increase by 6%, which can

be explained by patriarchal attitudes (man is the

breadwinner in the family, earns money, a woman

should be engaged in housekeeping, raising children,

taking care of the sick and the elderly, etc.)

(Zuikova, 2017).

However, the increase in the birth rate

contributes to a decrease in female unemployment

by about 6%, which can be explained by a woman's

desire to provide a decent life for her child, which is

impossible without a stable job and a steady wage. It

turns out that the emergence of children entails an

increase in consumer spending with a simultaneous

reduction in savings and reduction in investment

activity, which can also manifest itself in the

restructuring of personal (family) budget.

3 GENDER INEQUALITY IN THE

WORKPLACE

Today in the Russian Federation there is a

discrepancy between the conceptual foundations and

institutional mechanisms developed at the state level

to support women in their employment - and the

practice of implementing the adopted provisions and

norms. It is important to note here that women make

up the majority of the country's population - about

54%. Legislative acts of our country prohibit gender

discrimination in the sphere of labor. At the

initiative of the Russian government, various

measures are applied to support women in order to

increase their competitiveness in the labor sphere of

the Russian Federation. For example, wages are

increased in spheres where women often hold

positions (social, cultural, educational and health

care spheres). (Dadashev, 2015)

There is also a negative trend in the employment

of women. According to statistics, managerial

Womenâ

Zs Employment in Railway Transport: Gender Equality or Discrimination?

positions more often belong to men. At the same

time, the level of education is higher among women

(55% of employees who have higher education are

women).

Also, there are fewer women than men in

managerial positions at all levels of government. It is

extremely rare to find a woman in the position of the

rector of a higher educational institution; in fast-

growing industries the positions are more often

occupied by men.

According to the results of various sociological

studies of female labor - there are more women

working in unfavorable conditions. (Popov, 2020).

Also, there are many cases when social guarantees

for working women (related to maternity leave,

labor protection), which are stipulated by the

Russian legislation, are not observed. However, it

should be noted that there are positive trends.

According to the opinion poll published by the

Research Center of portal Superjob.ru on 9.09.2021

(The Research Center of portal Superjob.ru "Women

more often than men face discrimination by gender

and marital status at employment...". Sociological

survey 2021.), the presence of gender discrimination

was noted by 42% of respondents. At the same time

one in five (21%) personally felt gender inequality -

more often women than men (25% vs. 18%). Every

third respondent (33%) thinks that the reason of

discrimination is the presence (or absence) of

children, and every fifth respondent (20%) has faced

it - again more often women (45% vs. 24% among

men). A quarter of respondents (26%) believe that

discrimination based on marital status is not

excluded in employment, while only 18% have

encountered this phenomenon personally (20% of

women and 16% of men). Thus, comparing with

2018, when a similar study was conducted, we can

see a positive trend: there are fewer people who

believe that there is discrimination based on marital

status, age, the presence of children in the

workplace. There are also fewer people who have

personally experienced situations of discrimination

in employment. The noted trends fully apply to the

enterprises of Russian Railways as well. Moreover,

while previously women were employed as

conductors in the vast majority, today they are

increasingly being forced out of this segment of

employment by men. On the one hand, this can be

perceived as a benefit, as women are not torn from

the family. On the other hand. This benefit has a

downside: women are losing their jobs, and

consequently their standard of living and quality of

life are decreasing.

We can assume that this positive trend is due to

the pandemic coronavirus, when many employers

have changed the mode of work to a remote format.

Now the result of a specialist's work has become

more important than his or her marital status,

gender, age group. But for all that, employment

discrimination based on gender is still a noticeable

phenomenon, and gender stereotypes are a

contributing factor.

In 2020 HeadHunter Research Service published

the results of the research on the topic of gender

preferences in the labor market surveying 117

employers (HeadHunter Research Service "Can

gender equality be achieved in the labor market?",

March 2, 2020). According to the results of the study

it was found that almost all (96%) of the surveyed

employers had to select candidates of a certain

gender for the position.

It is interesting that the smaller the company

(less than 500 employees), the more developed this

practice of preference.

Candidates of a particular gender are most often

sought for positions of administrative nature -

secretaries, administrators, for positions of workers.

About a third of the employers surveyed do it all the

time - for the positions of unskilled specialists they

look for a candidate of a certain gender. (Bocharova,

2015).

Among the reasons for the selection of

candidates by gender, most often refer to the

characteristics of job duties and the requirements of

the future leader of the employee (63%).

In other words, these are either the manager's

personal internal attitudes or gender stereotypes

about the fact that representatives of a particular

gender cope better with certain tasks.

(Ostapenko,2015)

According to the same recruitment portal

HeadHunter, over the past five years women have

applied less frequently for jobs in banking, raw

material production, and administrative positions.

Women are gradually losing jobs in the arts,

entertainment, and media. So, while in 2016 they

held 65% of positions, in 2020 there are fewer -

63%.

4 CONCLUSIONS

Women entering the labor market often face the

choice of starting a family or building a career.

Combining family and professional life is a difficult

task for both women and their employers, especially

at Russian Railways enterprises due to the

TLC2M 2022 - INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC AND PRACTICAL CONFERENCE TLC2M TRANSPORT: LOGISTICS,

CONSTRUCTION, MAINTENANCE, MANAGEMENT

continuous work cycle. At these enterprises,

employers cannot in actual practice provide women

with all the benefits and preferences provided by

national projects and social development programs.

Women, in turn, are very active and eager to get a

job at Russian Railways, competing with men. This

is where gender stereotypes come into play.

The main reasons that justify gender

discrimination in the workplace include entrenched

stereotypes, prejudices of employers and employees

themselves. (Vigelina, 2018).

Gender pay parity is proving difficult to achieve.

The gender pay gap is a persistent form of gender

inequality in the workplace, and the Global Gender

Gap Index 2020 shows that progress in closing the

gender gap in this aspect has stalled. No country has

yet achieved gender pay parity.

Despite the numerical superiority of women

worldwide, only 37% of global GDP is accounted

for by the female working population. This figure

reveals a serious problem: gender inequality in the

labor market. With women's full participation in the

workforce, on an equal footing with men, global

GDP could increase substantially. Empowerment of

women in the labor sphere and their active

involvement in the work of the Russian transport

complex is a modern social and economic trend.

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Hartmann, H., 2013. The unhappy marriage of Marxism

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Ostapenko, A. B., 2011. The study of gender and gender

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Womenâ

Zs Employment in Railway Transport: Gender Equality or Discrimination?