{"id":13392,"date":"2017-09-21T12:06:48","date_gmt":"2017-09-21T09:06:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org?p=13392"},"modified":"2023-01-18T12:31:01","modified_gmt":"2023-01-18T09:31:01","slug":"the-moscow-times-in-russia-it-s-a-woman-s-job-to-challenge-soviet-era-labor-laws","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/en\/news\/publications-about-us\/media-about-us\/the-moscow-times-in-russia-it-s-a-woman-s-job-to-challenge-soviet-era-labor-laws\/","title":{"rendered":"The Moscow Times: In Russia, It’s a Woman’s Job to Challenge Soviet-Era Labor Laws"},"content":{"rendered":"
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In Russia, It’s a Woman’s Job to Challenge Soviet-Era Labor Laws. It took Svetlana Medvedeva five years to fight for her right to become a captain<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

After being rejected by the shipping company, Medvedeva immediately contested the decision with little success.<\/p>\n

She sent letters to numerous ministries but received no response. The St. Petersburg-based Anti-Discrimination Center Memorial (ADC), an NGO that defends the rights of minorities and vulnerable groups, then took up her case.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn 2012, we filed a lawsuit to the district court to oblige the defendant to employ me and to recognize their initial refusal as a case of discrimination,\u201d\u00a0Medvedeva\u00a0told The Moscow Times.<\/p>\n

The case was first rejected by a district court in Samara and then by a regional court. One year later, her lawyers filed a complaint to the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), to which Russia is a state party.<\/p>\n

In March 2016, the UN\u00a0recognized<\/a>\u00a0the company\u2019s refusal to employ her as gender discrimination and the list as a violation of women’s rights.<\/p>\n

But international recognition didn\u2019t mean the legislation was changed or the list was scrapped. In fact, Medvedeva\u2019s case was once again rejected by the district court in Samara.<\/p>\n

That changed last week, when on Sept. 15, after a five-year-long legal battle, the same court recognized her rejection of employment as discriminatory.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt means a lot to me,\u201d\u00a0Medvedeva\u00a0told The Moscow Times. \u201cThere are women, who like me, work in the merchant navy and are denied employment because of this list. But now everything will change.”<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

In March this year, ADC Memorial launched a campaign with the hashtag \u201calljobs4allwomen\u201d to change the legislation, not only in Russia but other post-Soviet countries.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe believe that women can decide for themselves what is good or bad for them \u2014 just like men do,\u201d Stefania Kulayeva, the head ADO, told The Moscow Times.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese professional bans are rooted in gender-stereotypes that present women first of all as mothers, while men can [pursue their] career and have a choice,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cWomen don’t just face discrimination in practice, but also in the law. That has to change.”<\/p>\n

Read full article by<\/a> Francesca Visser<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In Russia, It’s a Woman’s Job to Challenge Soviet-Era Labor Laws. It took Svetlana Medvedeva five years to fight for her right to become a captain After being rejected by the shipping company, Medvedeva immediately contested the decision with little…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[636],"tags":[401,208],"strategy_cases":[],"campaign":[],"archive":[],"filter-content":[],"regions":[],"class_list":["post-13392","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-media-about-us","tag-court-rulings","tag-womens-rights-en"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t