The labour legislation of the Russian Federation establishes the prohibition of discrimination in the sphere of labour. Thus, Article 3 of the Labour Code of the Russian Federation (hereinafter referred to as LC RF) states that "no one may be restricted in his labour rights and freedoms or receive any advantages based on sex, race, skin colour, nationality, language, origin, property, family, social and official status, age, place of residence, attitude to religion, beliefs, membership or non-membership in public associations or any social groups, and other circumstances unrelated to the professional qualities of the employee". In other words, it is possible to refuse to hire, not to promote, and to dismiss an employee only for reasons related to the inability of the employee to perform a particular job function with regard to his professional and qualification qualities (profession, speciality, qualifications, competencies), as explained by Resolution No. 2 of the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation dated March 17, 2004, "On Application of the Russian Federation Labour Code by Courts". The employee's lack of certain personal qualities can cause the above only if, according to the qualification requirements, such qualities are part of the business qualities. For example, it may be a health condition required, for example, to work with sources of increased danger, the level of education required by a professional standard, the requirement for advanced computer skills, or knowledge of foreign languages, if this is part of the job function of a particular position. However, in any case, a citizen's gender cannot be a determining factor in assessing business qualities. There is currently an active discussion in Russia and around the world not just about reducing but also about eliminating the mention in regulations of professions that are reserved for men.
It is fair to say that researchers often refer to discrimination against women as sexism. However, sexism is any discrimination based on gender. Sexism as a social phenomenon includes misogyny - contempt for the female sex - and misandry, that is, the denigration of men. Of course, misogyny in labour relations is much more widespread. However, one can also observe misandry in the sphere we are considering: for example, there was a case when a young man, who sought a job as a librarian and fully met the job requirements, was not just rejected at the interview but was openly asked if he had mental or legal problems - why would he seek a "purely female" job? Nevertheless, we emphasize that misogyny will be the object of this article since it is widespread and by no means uncommon in the post-Soviet space.