Yahoo Finance Outrage after company offers women ‘femininity bonuses’
A Russian company has come under fire after offering its female employees a bonus of 100 rubles ($2.20) a day if they wear makeup and skirts.
The aluminium maker, Tatprof, described it as a “femininity marathon” and pitched it as a way to “brighten up” a male-dominated workplace, The Moscow Times reports.
According to Tatarstan’s Business Online, the CEO of Tatprof is concerned femininity is being lost, and seeks to preserve traditional gender roles. Women are required to send the company a picture of themselves in their “feminine” attire to receive the bonus.
"[Tatprof CEO Sergei Rachkov] doesn’t want ladies to wear male hairstyles and change into pants, but to do handicrafts and put all their warmth into educating children,” the representative, Anastasia Kirillova, told Business Online.
"Many women automatically put on trousers, so we hope that [the campaign] will increase our ladies' awareness, allowing them to feel their femininity and charm when they make the choice of wearing a skirt or dress," Kirillova also told Russian news agency, Sputnik.
"It is summer now, so the marathon came in handy."
The marathon sparked fury among Russian feminists, with blogger Zalina Marshenkulova describing it as “news from the Middle Ages”.
Another Twitter user lambasted the move, calling the CEO a “dinosaur”.
“A 100-rouble bonus for women who will come in short skirts and in makeup too…”
“Indeed, why do we need feminism when one can just please men for money?”
It comes just three months after Virgin Atlantic relaxed its previously rigid dress code for women flight attendants.
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