Gender stereotypes practically disappear in labour market of Tatarstan, but ageism continues to flourish

“Modern generation has been interested in work since they were at school”

According to the results of 2024, women from Tatarstan were looking for work more actively than men — the share of resumes is 51% versus 49%. The hh.ru Volga Region director, Albina Sultanova, told about it during the press breakfast.

As for the portrait of the Tatarstan applicant, 24% of them are between 25 and 34 years old. 35-44 years old are in second place (22%), 18-24 years old are in third (20%). Women aged 45 to 54 (8%), 17 and younger (2%) and over 55 (1%) are the least likely to seek work.

At the same time, 26% of Tatarstan women have no work experience. 16% each have experience from 3 to 6 years and more than 15 years. Another 12% worked for 1-3 years.

More than half of the women (54%) have higher education, another 20% have specialised secondary education, and 19% have only secondary education.

“Another 8% have incomplete higher education. It seems to me that this share will only grow, because we notice how the modern generation has been interested in work since school. Everyone wants to earn money from the age of 14, although they can only legally do it from the age of 16," Sultanova said.

When looking for a job, applicants most often rely on a personal interest in the profession — 69% of women and 72% of men voted for this option. At the same time, earnings in the future are more important for female residents of the republic than for male residents: 50% versus 45%. Tatarstan citizens are more concerned about the demand for the profession — 36% and 32%.

Women have become more actively interested in the field of investment

Tatarstan applicants are most often interested in sales and customer service areas — the share of relevant resumes is 20.1%. By the way, in Russia this figure is only 11.5%.

“I think this is quite logical: women are better in sales because they feel the customers well and understand what they need," said the speaker.

Administrative staff ranks second in popularity among women in the republic (16.3%), and domestic service personnel ranks third (12.4%). The top 5 also includes the industries such as marketing, advertising, PR (10.6%) and finance, accounting (10%).

Women are least interested in the automotive business — the share of resumes is only 0.1%. Agriculture and insurance share the second place from the end (0.4% each). The third place with an indicator of 0.6% is taken by the security sector.

In two years, the attractiveness of the strategy, consulting and investment industry has increased the most for women of the republic — plus 33% by 2024. It is noteworthy that the automotive business took the second place by this criterion, plus 32% resumes. According to the director of the service, there is an explanation for this:

“In the automotive business, we are not talking about mechanics and cleaners, but about managers. It is their share among women that is increasing. Why is there such a big increase? Because over the past two years, the field has changed: new players have come, old ones have left, the industry has developed, and mechanical engineering has grown. Women began to try themselves in new positions.”

Sultanova particularly emphasised the growing interest among women in the fields of information technology and higher and middle management — the growth of resumes in two years is 23% and 22%, respectively.

At the same time, the popularity of the retail industry has almost collapsed — the number of resumes in this area has decreased by 25% in two years. For comparison, the second place, which is shared by the sales and administrative staff industries, recorded a drop of 7%.

The most gender-neutral area is home staff

It is noteworthy that the interest between applicants and employers is not fully mutual. Thus, women are most often invited to manage staff — the share of such contracts is 89%. Men are approved for such jobs only in 11% of cases.

Finance and accounting are in second place, with 86% of relevant offers for women and 14% for men. Women are invited to the field of medicine and pharmacy in 81% of cases, and men — in 19%.

Men in Tatarstan are most often approved for positions in the automotive business — the share of relevant offers for them is 96%, and for women of the republic — only 4%. They are also more willing to hire men in the fields of agriculture and security — 93% versus 7% and 85% versus 15%, respectively.

The most gender-neutral professional field is“Domestic, service personnel”, where the difference between invitations is only about 10 percentage points: 55% for men and 45% for women.

“Domestic staff includes house cleaning, babysitting services, as well as repair work or drivers. Because of this, we observe such an average value," Sultanova believes.

Older applicants suffer from ageism

At the same time, the salary expectations of men and women are completely different. On average, they amount to 59,800 rubles among women in Tatarstan, and 96,600 — among men.

At the same time, according to the survey, only one in three respondents is satisfied with the current salary. 41% of Russians surveyed do not have enough wages for basic needs, 38% said that they have enough earnings “with difficulty”. According to one in four (25%) women surveyed, she lacks an average of 20,000 rubles to cover her basic needs.

“Men always expect a higher salary, they say: “I deserve it” — unlike women. Therefore, I would like to say, dear ladies, who can work in the same way, please do not be shy, you must definitely declare your salary ambitions. If your competencies and skills are relevant, you can definitely apply for it," Sultanova addressed the female applicants.

Meanwhile, Irina Egorova, a spokeswoman for the service, suggested that this difference is due to some willingness on the part of women to sacrifice their salaries for the opportunity to take sick leave if a child gets sick, or to leave work early to pick up a child from kindergarten.

“But now there is practically no gender discrimination in hiring. I have not heard arguments in the style of “you are a woman, which means you will soon go on maternity leave” for a long time. Moreover, men can also go on maternity leave now. We live in a time when the rules are dictated by the applicant, so they cling to valuable personnel here and now, and not with the expectation that in a few years they may go on maternity leave. Women are now actively developing their careers, leaving family plans for later, when they realise their career potential," said Egorova.

However, there are stereotypes about the age of applicants in the labour market. Moreover, older people suffer most often from ageism. Thus, this reason became the second most common after insufficient qualifications and skills — 14% and 36%, respectively.

Candidates were most often rejected due to their age when hiring flight attendants (29% of refusals), journalists (27%), heads of analytics departments (21%), as well as real estate agents and finance directors (18% each).

“Some employers still impose an unspoken age limit on hiring, but this is definitely a losing tactic. In a situation of shortage of personnel and fierce competition for people among employers, it is necessary to abandon unjustified restrictions, including age. Otherwise, the recruitment funnel risks becoming so narrow that positions will remain vacant for months. By the way, as one of our surveys showed, over the past three years, 41% of Russian employers have revised the requirements for the age of applicants in the direction of increasing it," Sultanova summed up.