Twelve female drivers joined the Moscow metro on January 1, 2021, decades after it stopped hiring women as drivers over supposed health concerns. /Getty

The Russian Labor Ministry lifted a ban on women working as metro drivers in 2019. With much of the work now automated, the Department of Transportation said the job was less physically taxing. /Getty

The first group of female drivers started work on January 3. Twenty-five women initially joined the training program in 2020, and 12 completed it to become drivers. /Getty

The new drivers will work on the Filevskaya line, one of the most modern ones on the network. /Getty