VOA标准英语2009年-Russian Woman Continues Fight For Equal Ri

By Jessica Golloher
Moscow
05 November 2009

 
St. Petersburg skyline
In Russia, there is an official list of jobs that are considered too dangerous and physically¹ demanding for women. One young woman, Anna Klevets, recently tried to challenge the list. She filed a discrimination claim after being turned down for a job as an underground railway train driver in St. Petersburg.

Russia's constitution guarantees men and women equal employment. But a section of the country's labor² code states that women should not do "hard, physical" labor that entails³ harmful or dangerous conditions.

In 2000, Russian President Vladimir Putin, signed off on an updated list of no-can-do jobs for women. It includes nearly 500 positions, including chimney sweep, firefighter, blacksmith, steel worker, diver and metro⁴ train operator. Student Anna Klevets applied⁵ for the metro train operator job and was denied. As a result, she filed a discrimination lawsuit⁶ with Russia's Supreme⁷ Court. She argued that women can already drive buses, trams and trolleys⁸, why not metro trains?

Evgenny Nasonov is with the Kremlin-aligned Young Russia Foundation, an organization that promotes "Russian family values". He says the job restrictions⁹ make sense.

Nasonov says he thinks there are several jobs and professions that women should not do. For instance, he does not think women should defend their country and that men should protect their homeland. He says that women should stay at home and take care of children and the family.

Masha Lipman, a political analyst¹⁰ with the Carnegie Moscow Center, says she is not surprised that such a list exists. "Such lists do not get revised very often. I don't think Putin looked deeply into it. And I don't think a president should. It's the job of a society," she said.

Anna Klevet agrees. She says she was hoping her lawsuit would help change the way Russian society views women.

But, that hope was dashed recently when Russia's Supreme Court upheld the ban on female train drivers.

Irina Vasanova is a teacher in her late 50s. She thinks it is sad that women can not do the same jobs as men. She says that in Soviet¹¹ times, women could repair roads and railways. She says women did very hard, masculine work.

Analyst Lipman, says it appears that the days of women, working alongside men in most any job, are long gone. "There is, I think we can say with certainty, that there is not much interest, this is an overstatement. There is no interest in gender¹² issues at large in Russia," she said.

Despite the Supreme Court's ruling, Klevets says she is not giving up on her dream to drive a metro train. She says she will appeal to a St. Petersburg court to challenge the working conditions in the city's metro stations, in an attempt to make conditions more suitable for women.

Several attempts to reach the Supreme Court for comment were unsuccessful.

1 physically   

adj.物质上，体格上，身体上，按自然规律

参考例句：

• He was out of sorts physically,as well as disordered mentally.他浑身不舒服，心绪也很乱。
• Every time I think about it I feel physically sick.一想起那件事我就感到极恶心。

2 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

3 entails   

使…成为必要( entail的第三人称单数 )； 需要； 限定继承； 使必需

参考例句：

• The job entails a lot of hard work. 这工作需要十分艰苦的努力。
• This job entails a lot of hard work. 这项工作需要十分努力。

4 metro   

n.地铁；adj.大都市的；(METRO)麦德隆(财富500强公司之一总部所在地德国，主要经营零售)

参考例句：

• Can you reach the park by metro?你可以乘地铁到达那个公园吗？
• The metro flood gate system is a disaster prevention equipment.地铁防淹门系统是一种防灾设备。

5 applied   

adj.应用的；v.应用，适用

参考例句：

• She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
• This cream is best applied to the face at night.这种乳霜最好晚上擦脸用。

6 lawsuit   

n.诉讼，控诉

参考例句：

• They threatened him with a lawsuit.他们以诉讼威逼他。
• He was perpetually involving himself in this long lawsuit.他使自己无休止地卷入这场长时间的诉讼。

7 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

8 trolleys   

n.（两轮或四轮的）手推车( trolley的名词复数 )；装有脚轮的小台车；电车

参考例句：

• Cars and trolleys filled the street. 小汽车和有轨电车挤满了街道。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Garbage from all sources was deposited in bins on trolleys. 来自各方的垃圾是装在手推车上的垃圾箱里的。 来自辞典例句

9 restrictions   

约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则）

参考例句：

• I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
• a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制

10 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

11 Soviet   

adj.苏联的，苏维埃的；n.苏维埃

参考例句：

• Zhukov was a marshal of the former Soviet Union.朱可夫是前苏联的一位元帅。
• Germany began to attack the Soviet Union in 1941.德国在1941年开始进攻苏联。

12 gender   

n.（生理上的）性，（名词、代词等的）性

参考例句：

• French differs from English in having gender for all nouns.法语不同于英语，所有的名词都有性。
• Women are sometimes denied opportunities solely because of their gender.妇女有时仅仅因为性别而无法获得种种机会。