Short report on Gender Equality in the Netherlands

COLWRIT 9C: Academic Writing for Multilingual Students

Elodie Dinkelberg
Number of words: 683
The equality of men and women is a global issue, and the Netherlands is not an exception. On the
surface, it might seem like women in the Netherlands are very emancipated, even when compared to
other European countries. In 2009, the Netherlands came in at fourth place on the Gender
Empowerment Measure (GEM), following Denmark, Finland and Sweden (CBS, 2009). A high GEM
score means that a country has considerable equality between men and women with regards to finance
and politics. However, as the following figures illustrate, there is still much room for improvement.
Because of this, the Dutch government actively tries to improve the educational and occupational
standing of women. Three topics highlighted here are womens access to education, their economic
independence, and their representation in top positions in politics and business.
Access to Education
Like in most Western countries, women and men in the Netherlands have equal access to education.
Moreover, girls outperform boys in school. Girls get held back less often, and achieve a higher level of
education than boys do (Belfie, Levels & van der Velden, 2015). There are more women in higher
education, with 87,000 women attending University compared to 76,000 men in 2010 (Stoffelen,
2010). However, according to the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS, 2015) boys do still seem to
outperform girls in math, and women are less likely to pursue a path in STEM fields. Although the
numbers of women in STEM majors have been rising, the Netherlands falls behind in comparison to
other European countries.
Financial Independence
The head start that women make during their educational years is not noticeable when you look at the
financial independence of women in the Netherlands. As stated on the Dutch governments website
(Rijksoverheid, 2016), about half of Dutch women are not financially independent. The website states
that these women earn approximately 70% of the minimum wage. Aside from their pay, the lack of
financial independence is related to the under-employment of women. In May of 2015, 60,5% of
women had a job, compared to 70% of men. Within the group of women that work, many of them
work part time, further impacting their economic independence. In the first quarter of 2015, 16% of
women worked less than 12 hours a week, as opposed to 9% of men. And in 2014, merely a quarter of
working women worked fulltime, compared to three quarters for men (CBS, 2015). However, the
number of employed women does show a growing trend, slowly closing the gap between men and
womens participation in the workforce (Gijzel, 2016).
Representation in Top Positions in Government and Business
Of course, the number of employed women does not tell all when it comes to equal participation in the
workforce. The number of women in top positions is also relevant to this issue. In the Netherlands,
women are underrepresented in top positions in politics and business. In 2013, the Dutch government
set a goal to have at least 30% of top positions occupied by women by 2020. Within the government,
this has been a success. As of last year, 31% of top officials in the Dutch government were female
(Giebels, 2016). This is a sharp contrast to the business world, which still has a long way to go before
reaching this goal. Right now, only 1 in 10 women fill a top position within business. However, the
government might take action if this remains to be the case for much longer. Specifically, if there is
not at least a 1-to-5 woman-to-man ratio by 2020 in all quoted companies, the 30%- recommendation
could become a legal requirement (Giebels, 2016).

As shown by these statistics, there is not yet full equality of men and women with regard to financial
independence and employment in top functions in the Netherlands. Within education, women and men
have equal access, but women are underrepresented in certain fields of study within post-secondary
education. The government actively tries to strive towards equality, and we are improving, albeit
slowly. And so, the Netherlands still has a long way to go before it can claim to be gender equal.
References
Belfi, B., Levels, M., van der Velden, R. (2015). De jongens tegen de meisjes [Government report].
Retrieved from https://www.rijksoverheid.nl/documenten/rapporten/2015/11/18/de-jongenstegen-de-meisjes
CBS. (2009). Nederlandse vrouwen behoren tot meest gemancipeerde van Europa [Article].
Retrieved from https://www.cbs.nl/nl-nl/nieuws/2009/27/nederlandse-vrouwen-behoren-totmeest-geemancipeerde-van-europa
CBS. (2015). Meisjes soepeler door het onderwijs, meer jongens economisch zelfstandig [Article].
Retrieved from https://www.cbs.nl/nl-nl/nieuws/2015/22/meisjes-soepeler-door-het-onderwijsmeer-jongens-economisch-zelfstandig
CBS. (2015). Meer werkende vrouwen op de arbeidsmarkt [Article]. Retrieved from
https://www.cbs.nl/nl-nl/nieuws/2015/25/meer-werkende-vrouwen-op-de-arbeidsmarkt
Giebels, R. (2016). Rijksoverheid haalt streefcijfer vrouwen in topfuncties [Article]. Retrieved from
http://www.volkskrant.nl/politiek/rijksoverheid-haalt-streefcijfer-vrouwen-intopfuncties~a4302524/
Gijzel, T. (2016). Zo staan de Nederlandse vrouwen er op de arbeidsmarkt voor [Article]. Retrieved
from https://www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2016/03/07/hoe-goed-scoort-nederland-op-internationalevrouwendag-a1493570
Rijksoverheid. (2016). Vrouwen aan het werk [Article]. Retrieved from
https://www.rijksoverheid.nl/onderwerpen/vrouwenemancipatie/inhoud/arbeidsparticipatievan-vrouwen
Stoffelen, A. (2010). Veel meer vrouwen dan mannen in hoger onderwijs [Article]. Retrieved from
http://www.volkskrant.nl/binnenland/veel-meer-vrouwen-dan-mannen-in-hogeronderwijs~a1002146/