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Estonia has some of the biggest gender and ethnic gaps in the job market in Europe. The most successful group has become ethnic Estonian men, the worst position is held by Russian-speaking women. Kadri Aavik, a lecturer of sociology at Tallinn University School of Governance, Law and Society, asks how these groups see their own position and success in today’s job market.

Russian-speaking women who have an academic degree, but either no job or a simple low-paying one find that their ethnic heritage and mother tongue set them at an unfair position. For example, they see their own Estonian language skills insufficient for most jobs, and also feel secluded from the social networks and work collectives of ethnic Estonians.

Successful ethnic Estonian men rely heavily on their social network, when climbing up the career ladder. They see social ties as natural tools in achieving and maintaining success in their career. They also see gender inequality in the job market as a natural process, not as a systemic fault. When talking about gender equality, they fail to mention themselves as leaders, or their organisations.

In the case of ethnic Estonian male leaders, the successful use of social capital in a natural way helps create and maintain a positive self-image and common solidarity, both as leaders and successful men. Such privileged groups have the possibility to impose norms and values that are favourable to themselves.

To understand and fight inequality in the job market and other aspects of life, we should not only focus on those who are clearly disadvantaged and contrasting, but also on those who are successful and seem normal and regular to us – for example straight ethnic Estonian men. Everyone should ask themselves, “What are my privileges according to various social characteristic” or “what causes me to be in a disadvantaged position compared to others?”

This One Minute Lecture is  based on the doctoral thesis , defended by Kadri Aavik on 23 November, 2015 at Tallinn University.