The New York Times publishes an article about Ukrainian women who started working in mines and other difficult conditions where men traditionally worked before the war.
At one of the Donbas mines during the war, a thousand men were mobilized - a fifth of the entire team. To partially compensate for their absence, about 330 women were recruited.
One of them is a 21-year-old girl named Yatsina, who worked as a nanny a year and a half ago. She was interested in a high salary and the prospect of a pension. But in the end, she liked the work itself, and now she wants to become an electrical engineer.
30-year-old Valentina Korotayeva, a former saleswoman from Pokrovska, works as a crane operator at the Pokrovska mine. She lost her job when a rocket fell near the store. Yuliya Koba, a former child psychologist, works as a conveyor operator.
The mine became an opportunity for tens of thousands of people to get stable work in a war-torn economy. Several women noted that working in the mine became a way to participate in the military operations, supporting the Ukrainian economy while the men were fighting at the front.
Women say that at first there were gender stereotypes among male colleagues, but over time they realized that women can do the job just as well as men.
In addition, many Ukrainian women became truck or bus drivers, welders at steel plants, and warehouse workers. Thousands voluntarily joined the army.
However, this is not enough to cover the huge labor shortage due to the war.
At the same time, Ukrainian employers say that women are reluctant to take on difficult "male" jobs, because there are many offers of "female" jobs with good pay in Ukraine. In addition, there are no obstacles for women to go abroad and find work there, which many do.
As a result, there is a shortage in the labor market in Ukraine not only in "male" but also in "female" specialties.
