Women Barred from Cleaning Oil Spill on Tuapse Beaches: ‘This Is Not Labour, It’s a Battle’

Agency. Women have been barred from participating in beach clean-up operations in the Russian coastal city of Tuapse on the Black Sea. The local administration made the decision, citing the extreme physical demands of cleaning up the mazut (fuel oil) that has spread along the shoreline.

According to the Tuapse district administration, only men will now be permitted to take part in the clean-up work. Quoting the press service of the regional government, it was stated, “Our administration does not want to allow women because the work is heavy. It is pebbles, not sand, and mixed with mazut.”

The administration also stressed that only those trained to handle hazardous waste should carry out the beach cleaning: rescue workers, employees of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, and municipal utility workers. The pollution, which spread after a tanker accident, has seriously affected the environment and tourism along the Black Sea.