Recently, a visit to a friend’s office turned out to be much more like a visit to the theatre. The lead role was played by the receptionist. On entering the reception, I was stunned by the sight of her knelt down in a rather revealing fashion. She was gathering together the fragments of what had used to be a teacup. After crawling out from under her desk, she began to struggle with the high technology of a fax machine. I watched, as her long polished nails tapped away aimlessly at the squealing machine, and wondered to myself; why do women so often get jobs because of their face, body or connections? Surely the quality of someone’s work is more important? That’s what this paper’s about; it’s about empowering educated, skilled people and enabling them to compete in Moscow’s transformed work environment.

I hope you enjoy our first issue.