After the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991, unemployment soared and Russia's social security system became more and more insecure. Today, most women cannot afford to lose their jobs and will keep on working as long as possible. The women work even though the working conditions badly affect their ovm health and their children's health. Many women work more than one job. Apart from working under very unfavorable conditions women also have to take care of their families.
Wages are low and poverty is increasing.
By the end of the Soviet era, 14.5 million women worked in industry and 3.4 million, about one-fifth of them, worked under hazardous conditions such as toxic fumes, extreme high or low temperatures, and excessive noise and vibrations. Chelyabinsk has long been a region of strategic military importance and has a history of secrecy. Even today it is not easy to obtain environment or health information. Obtaining information from independent sources is even more difficult. This was the first time that the public gained access to classified information concerning the health of the population affected by radionucleides from the nuclear military complex, Mayak.