Tuesday 6 March 2018 – 16:00-18:00
European Parliament – Room A5G315
The right to work has no Gender: All Jobs for All Women
Moderator:
MEP Clare MOODY, Member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Delegation to the EU-Armenia and EU-Azerbaijan Parliamentary Cooperation Committees and the EU-Georgia Parliamentary Association Committee, Delegation to the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly
Presentations by:
Svitlana Voitsekhovska, Member of the Ukrainian Parliamentary Assembly, contributed to the removal of the list in her country.
Svetlana Medvedeva, Russian maritime professional, who was unable to obtain a working place as an apprentice, as helmperson-motorist on board ships was ruled a profession “dangerous for women.
Stefania Kulaeva, Executive director of ADC Memorial that launched the campaign #ALL-JOBS4ALL-WOMEN
The Anti-discrimination Centre “Memorial” (ADC “Memorial”) and MEP Clare MOODY invite to a public hearing on the discrimination of women in the employment sphere in Eastern Europe.
In Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova, Azerbaijan, and all countries of Central Asia, women are banned by law from hundreds of professions, including prestigious and high-paying ones. The list of professions banned for women is a relic of the Soviet era. This open discrimination against women in the working world is explained as “concern for reproductive health.”.
In Armenia and Georgia, the articles about the list of banned professions were excluded from Labour Codes, but the women’s right to work remains restricted.
In March 2017, ADC Memorial launched a one-year campaign to oppose this ban. On the occasion of the International Women’s Day we call for the cancellation of lists of types of jobs and professions banned to women in all Eastern Europe and Central Asia countries. Women must be granted equal access to all types of activities and work, professional fulfillment, and good pay.