IN KAZAKHSTAN, THE LIST OF JOBS RESTRICTED TO WOMEN HAS BEEN CANCELED

The Parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan has adopted a law on the abolition of the list of jobs restricted to women. Earlier, the Commissioner for Human Rights in Kazakhstan, Elvira Azimova, noted that the existence of this list is formal, and some types of work are not in demand in Kazakhstan or are automated. According to the Commissioner, it is more expedient and effective to create a real mechanism for the employment of women, to take effective measures to protect health, especially in harmful and dangerous industries, as well as regular monitoring of the prevention of wage discrimination.

Many OECD countries have chosen this path.

For the first time, in the post-Soviet space, such a list was adopted in 1932. Today, among the CIS countries, it continues to exist in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Belarus, Russia, Uzbekistan, and in some countries as a significantly reduced list of "non-feminine" works or the ban has been "translated" into the format of the above-mentioned restrictions.

The list in Kyrgyzstan includes 402 professions, in Belarus - 181. In Ukraine, in 2017, such a list was completely canceled by a political decision. In Russia, since the beginning of 2020, the list has been reduced from 456 to 79 specialties. Russians can now work in aviation, maritime, chemical industry, and transport.

In Kazakhstan, the list of jobs where the use of women's labor is limited consisted of 213 types of work, some of which are highly paid or are so automated that it requires no physical labor, but knowledge of a computer program.

The International Labour Organization (ILO) calls on States to abolish the lists of "non-female" professions, considering their discrimination against the latter in the sphere of work.

At the same time, in addition to the existing mechanisms for ensuring safe working conditions within the framework of the occupational risk management system, health protection, as well as maternity protection, it is proposed to consider several additional measures. In particular, to include professions and types of work where the use of women's labor is prohibited in the list of industries, workshops, professions, and positions where work entitles to additional paid leave and reduced working hours, as well as increased wages (the list contains 8940 working professions and positions of managers and specialists).

The list of medical contraindications for concluding labor contracts in the field of heavy work, work with harmful (especially harmful) and (or) dangerous working conditions, underground work" is planned to be expanded with additional medical contraindications, taking into account the physiological characteristics of the female body associated with childbearing function.

In the departmental order, in addition to general restrictions for women's health, it is proposed to add restrictions on nine different groups of diseases and pathologies.

The initiative to abolish the mentioned list complies with the recommendations of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women.