‘We do the job just as well as men’: Ukrainian women take on coal mining

Women are taking up traditionally male jobs in Ukrainian coal mining as the war depletes the male workforce, with women such as Ludmyla Vashkatova and Violetta Loevska now working underground at the Pokrovsk mine. Since the war began, 915 of 6,578 male workers at Metinvest's Pokrovsk mine have joined the armed forces, and about 30 women have taken underground jobs, according to Serhiy Stepanenko, the mine's head of human resources. The government lifted a law that had barred women from "harmful or dangerous" conditions, and Stepanenko said many physically demanding positions will stay closed to women and that "female employment won't fix" the worker deficit.