Women in Russia earn on average a quarter less than their male colleagues, a senior official said Thursday.
By the end of 2015, men earned an average of 38,600 rubles per month ($670). During the same period, women earned on average 28,000 rubles, Deputy Prime Minister Olga Golodets was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency on Thursday.
“Russian women’s wages are 26 percent lower than those of men,” Golodets said at a government strategy meeting.
The wage gap is smallest in the educational sector, she added. According to a study by the Vedomosti business daily in 2015, the salary difference is highest in the IT sector, where men earn on average 33 percent more than women.
Golodets said that the gender gap has narrowed over the past decade. In 2005, women’s salaries were just 60 percent of that of their male co-workers.
Women also lack political representation, Golodets said, adding Russia was lagging behind the West and also other developing countries.
Fifteen percent of State Duma deputies are women, and in the Federation Council, Russia’s upper chamber of parliament, the number is 17 percent.
The gender gap also applies to top government positions. Out of 31 ministers, only three are female — including Golodets, Education and Science Minister Olga Vasilyeva and Health Minister Veronika Skvortsova.
The World Economic Forum’s 2016 Global Gender Gap Report ranks Russia 75th out of 144 countries.
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