Women Behind The Wheel! Moscow Metro Hires First Female Train Drivers In Modern History

In a historic move towards promoting gender-neutral roles, the Moscow Metro hired the first batch of female drivers who started operating the transport services on Friday, January 1.

The Moscow Times reported that 12 women were inducted into the services after changes in controversial laws which banned women from certain jobs.

The Russian city's transport department had stopped hiring women drivers in the 1980s because the profession was considered physically demanding and thus added to the list of jobs considered dangerous for women to undertake.

The daily further reported that the list was widely criticised, and an order by the Labor Ministry, in September last year, cut the number of exclusively male professions from 456 to around 100.

In a statement, the metro department said due to the automation of mechanical processes, operating trains were no longer "associated with heavy physical exertion."

Reports have pointed out that the women drivers have the option of choosing the uniform they feel most comfortable in, depending on the outfit that was more convenient for them to drive the train - 'in a skirt or in trousers'.

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