On April 3, a business breakfast “Women in the Pulp and Paper Industry: Personnel, Careers, Prospects” was held in Moscow, organized within the framework of the project “Women in the Pulp and Paper Industry” of the Council of the Eurasian Women’s Forum (EWF).

The Chairperson of the EWF Council, Senator Galina Karelova , addressed the participants with a welcoming speech . She noted that one of the main tasks is to expand opportunities for women in the development of pulp and paper industry enterprises and to facilitate the recruitment of personnel. By 2030, about 27 thousand new jobs are to be created, but for now the industry is experiencing an acute shortage of qualified specialists. Attracting women to the industry will be important not only for the economy of enterprises, but will also contribute to social stability and an increase in the standard of living in single-industry towns, where pulp and paper industry enterprises are mainly located.

Irina Galakhova, coordinator of the Women in the Pulp and Paper Industry project and member of the board of directors of the Arkhangelsk Pulp and Paper Mill (APPM), emphasized that the process of involving women is not only a question of justice, but a factor in the sustainable development of the industry.

The speaker cited statistics for Russian regions. Women make up 30-35% of the approximately 200,000 workers employed in the pulp and paper industry. In terms of overall employment, the leaders are Krasnoyarsk Krai (15,000 people*), Arkhangelsk (12,000 people) and Irkutsk (10,000 people) regions. And in terms of women's participation, the leaders are Krasnoyarsk Krai (4,800 people), Arkhangelsk (3,360 people) and Leningrad (3,150 people) regions.

Among the main reasons that influenced the low popularity of engineering and technical professions, Irina Galakhova named the lack of systemic career guidance and career paths for girls, as well as stereotypes about "non-feminine" professions. In Soviet times, the level of women's participation in the CBP was at 40%, and in some specialties it reached 50-60%, so now it is necessary to rethink the previously existing support mechanisms at a new level.

“Women bring empathy, motivation, and teamwork skills to the team, ensure continuity at enterprises, and have enormous potential in engineering and technology, and it is these factors, with the proper support, that can effectively combat the challenges of the times – the aging of personnel, the shortage of engineering and technical specialists, and overcoming the stereotype of purely “male” professions,” said I. Galakhova.

The breakfast participants then moved on to discuss practical measures that business and the scientific community are jointly taking.

Deputy Vice-Rector for Educational Activities at the Northern (Arctic) Federal University named after M.V. Lomonosov (NArFU) Elena Ivanova noted a positive trend in the growth of budget places for engineering and technical specialties in universities of the forestry industry. In 2024, their number increased by 5% year-on-year and amounted to 256,700 places.

National projects in the field of education provide for various state programs for the development of professional competencies, within the framework of which personnel retraining is carried out. This gives an additional impetus to the preservation of personnel potential without interruption from production.

At the same time, such programs are aimed at training current employees, and the task is to increase the influx of personnel into the pulp and paper industry. Therefore, the next step is to integrate universities with businesses to develop corporate programs at the bachelor's, master's and postgraduate levels.

“The tasks of popularizing and increasing the prestige of engineering and technical specialties will be solved at a new level through career guidance tools based on national projects, attracting employees of enterprises to teach, creating network programs and exchange programs, as well as a single online platform for educational and methodological materials ,” said Elena Ivanova.

Chairman of the Supervisory Board and co-founder of SFT Group Anatoly Steinberg , speaking to those gathered, emphasized that the company tries to create the most pleasant working conditions for female employees, to surround them with care and comfort. Care is shown in a cozy workspace, and a comfortable work uniform, and a flexible schedule and, of course, a decent and equal salary.

Currently, special programs aimed at caring for women's health are being developed and implemented at enterprises, and medical offices are being opened. The company is working to expand the professional development of female employees.

In addition, we must not forget that the most important thing for any woman is family! And here it is necessary to create an infrastructure for family recreation, expand opportunities for active sports, creativity and the comprehensive development of children.

"2025 has been declared the Year of Women at SFT Group! And these are not just big words. We are working purposefully in all areas to ensure that people throughout Russia know: "Women are taken care of here!" - said A. Steinberg.

Administrative Director of APPM Olga Savvina spoke about the implementation of the federal project "Professionality". Within the framework of "Professionality", the educational and production cluster "ProfiProm" of the forestry industry of the Arkhangelsk region was created on the basis of the Novodvinsk Industrial College, which included 5 partner enterprises and 13 state professional educational organizations. The project budget includes funds from the federal and regional budgets, as well as funds from enterprises participating in the cluster. APPM, as the supporting enterprise of the cluster, invested 27 million rubles in the project. The project implementation period is 2023-2025.

“The “Professionality” project allowed us to significantly update the technical school’s production base, create new workshops, develop educational programs to meet employers’ demands, increase the share of practical training in production, raise the prestige of blue-collar jobs, and improve the system of motivating mentors to involve more experienced specialists in training young people ,” O. Savvina concluded.

Olga Yasyreva, Deputy General Director for HR at Evokom , spoke about how the processes of promoting women in the company are structured. To do this, it is important to first determine the employee's potential - their abilities, motivation and involvement. Create conditions for transparent career development and assessment, when any employee can apply for a vacancy and everyone undergoes an assessment for key roles.

Among the three key points of promotion, Olga noted improving the current role - "what can be done more effectively", preparation for a future role - "what new skills do you need to know and how to quickly develop skills", and assistance in finding areas for development - "what tasks motivate the employee and what opportunities exist on a company-wide scale".

"In global practice, the influence of the female approach on the sustainability and development of a company plays a significant role. Women ensure the development of innovation and creativity, diversity of opinions and a collaborative leadership style, so female leadership has a positive effect on improving reputation and investment attractiveness ," Olga Yasyreva emphasized.

Alla Sbitneva, Director of Projects for the Corporate Business Development Department of Sberbank PJSC and member of the EWF Council, spoke about the role of industry corporate education and a model aimed at supporting women's leadership.

At the end of the event, Irina Galakhova called on the participants to take the next step and return a strong social component to the industry by rethinking successful experience and best practices in this area. She emphasized that women are not a "spare reserve", but the driving force of the industry's renewal. They know how to work in a team, build long-term processes and carefully transfer knowledge. "Our joint work as coordinators, employers and partners is to create conditions and form a favorable environment for the development of women's potential in the pulp and paper industry ," Irina Galakhova concluded.

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