Summary

Foreword

The Emancipation Monitor tracks men and women in a range of different areas, from education and the labour market to health and security. There have been many changes in Dutch society since the first edition of the monitor was published in 2000. At that time it seemed natural that emancipation was about the position of women in relation to men. A quarter of a century later, the public debate around emancipation is more about striving for equal rights, opportunities and freedoms for all, regardless of gender, gender identity and sexual orientation, and irrespective of other factors such as socioeconomic status, religion and cultural background.

Emancipation policy focuses specifically on promoting male-female equality and equality between people of different sexual orientations and gender identities. Figures are essential in this respect, but a plethora of such figures are available. Monitoring emancipation requires focus: what type of equality are we talking about? As far as the Emancipation Monitor is concerned, the focus remains on differences and similarities between men and women. The monitor therefore focuses on the traditional male-female dynamic without combining this with other dimensions of emancipation.

The Emancipation Monitor addresses the following questions:

• Are women working more? And are men working less?
• Is the gender pay gap narrowing?
• How many men and women are economically independent?
• Are more women reaching senior positions?
• How do women and men combine work with care responsibilities?
• How many women want to work, return to work, or work more?
• How do boys and girls perform at school?
• Is violence against women and men decreasing?
• Are men and women equally healthy?
• How equal are men and women in the Netherlands in relation to the rest of the EU?
• Is there a link between male-female differences, migration background and education?

In this year’s monitor, a new focus area is male-female differences in more and less urbanised areas. Also for the first time, there is a section on women and men with disabilities.

The Emancipation Monitor 2024 has been carried out by Statistics Netherlands (CBS) and funded by the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science (OCW). Most of the results relate to 2023. To complement the monitor, the CBS database contains m/v-stat, a wide range of socioeconomic statistics on women and men.

Women more often higher vocational or university educated

At the end of primary education, boys are more likely to be advised to attend HAVO (senior general secondary education) or VWO (pre-university education) than girls. However, there are more girls actually attending HAVO and VWO. Females are also in the majority at Level 4 of MBO (secondary vocational education), in HBO (higher vocational education) and in university education. Women finish their college or university studies more quickly and more women than man graduate successfully. This means that more women than men (up to age 65) have completed HBO or university education. Shortly after graduation, slightly more women than men have paid work. Women are more likely to work part-time, however.

Women become independent at a younger age than men

Women leave home at a younger age than men, on average. They also marry younger and have children earlier. In the 25–54 age group, men are more likely to live alone than women, while women are more likely to be single parents. Later in life, more women live alone, which is related to women’s longer life expectancy. Women also face more years of living with health problems, however. Feelings of anxiety or depression are more common in women than they are in men, and they are the most prevalent among young women.

The employment rate has increased more sharply among women

In 2023, 79.5 percent of women aged 15–64 years not in education were in paid employment. For men, the share was 88.4 percent. Net labour force participation has increased almost every year since 2013 among both women and men, but more so among women. Women’s average working hours have increased by two hours over that period, reaching an average of 30 hours per week in 2023. Men’s average working hours have remained virtually the same, averaging over nine hours longer. Nowhere in the EU do as many men and women work part-time as in the Netherlands: 18 percent of men and 65 percent of women.

7 in 10 women are economically independent

Nearly 70 percent of women (excluding schoolchildren, students and pensioners) earned 1,200 euros net per month from work in 2023 (i.e. the level of social assistance). This group is defined as economically independent. Among men the share was higher, at 83 percent. This is because men are more likely to be in employment, work more hours, and earn a higher average hourly wage. In 2023, the share of economically independent women increased by less than it did the previous year; among men, the share remained the same. In the previous ten years, however, women had been catching up with men.

More women are reaching senior positions in business

Compared to 2020, more women are now on the Boards of Directors and Supervisory Boards of large firms. Particularly in listed companies, the proportion of women in senior positions has increased and now exceeds the statutory quota of 33 percent for Supervisory Boards. In non-profit organisations, over 40 percent of members of Supervisory Boards are women. In politics, the share of women is highest among Dutch members of the European Parliament at 48 percent. In the Dutch Senate, the proportion of women has increased. Half the population believes that there should be more women in senior positions. Women are more likely to take this view than men.

Women’s incomes fall by one-third following the birth of the first child

Women with a partner and children under the age of 18 are less likely to be in work than women aged under 45 who have a partner but no children. On average, they also work fewer hours per week and are less likely to be economically independent than women who do not (yet) have children. Women’s earned income drops the most in the year when their first child is born and the subsequent year. After that, there is still an annual decline but this is less pronounced. Six years after the birth, women’s income is 35 percent lower than in the year before birth. There is no such drop in earning following the birth of a child among men. In fact, incomes among men were 1 percent higher, six years after the birth of their first child.

Most parents want to share responsibility for childcare equally

Most mothers and fathers would ideally like to share childcare responsibilities equally, but in practice this is not always the case. Women spend more time on childcare, while men spend more time on paid work. The ‘one-and-a-half-earner model’ (one partner works full-time, the other part-time) has predominated among couples with children for many years, although increasingly mothers are working longer hours in part-time jobs. Ever more children are going into formal childcare, and people increasingly believe that this is good for children. Nevertheless, a majority of the Dutch population remains convinced that childcare is not good for babies, in particular. Most people believe that mothers should work three days a week or fewer, especially when caring for babies and toddlers, and that fathers should work four or five days. In practice, both mothers and fathers tend to work more than this.

More unused labour potential among women than among men

In 2023, 230 thousand men and 354 thousand women (not in education, aged 15–64) were classified as unused labour potential. This group is made up of part-time workers who want to extend their working hours and would be available to do so within two weeks (underutilised part-time workers) and non-workers who are seeking work and/or are available for work immediately (unemployed and semi-unemployed people). Of female unused labour potential, women who work part-time are the largest group, at 175 thousand. Of male unused labour potential, the largest group is unemployed persons, of whom there are 100 thousand.

Two-thirds of female part-time workers would be willing to work more hours per week under certain conditions. Especially if their household income were no longer sufficient, women consider working more. The possibility of tailoring their working hours better to their personal lives and working partly from home are also important considerations.

Men are more likely than women to say that they want to work fewer hours than they currently do: 17 percent of men, compared to 14 percent of women. This reflects the higher proportion of men who work full-time. Having more free time is the most frequently mentioned reason for wanting to work less, among both men and women.

Particularly among women, care responsibilities are a reason for not working

In 2023, almost 17 percent of women and 8 percent of men said they were not looking for work and were not available for work. In most cases this was because of illness or incapacitation. Caring for family or the household was the second most common reason among women. Among men, this was seldom mentioned. 1 in 3 women not in employment would like to work under certain conditions. The most frequently mentioned conditions were finding a job with the right hours, being able to tailor working hours to their personal life, and working close to home.

More women than men with disabilities

In 2023, one-third of women (aged 15–64, not in education) said that they were limited in activities people usually do, because of a health problem. A quarter of men reported the same. Net labour participation, working hours and economic independence of women with disabilities are lower than those of men with disabilities. Male-female differences are also greater in this group than among people without a disability.

More women are the victim of sexually transgressive behaviour

Nearly one-fifth of women aged 16 years and older say they have been the victim of sexually transgressive behaviour in the past twelve months. That is over twice as high as among men. Female employees are four times more likely (at 8 percent) than male employees to report experiencing unwanted sexual attention at work in the past twelve months. More female than male employees are the victim of harassment or physical violence.

A large majority of the population agrees with the statement that it is a good thing when women do not put up with men making unsolicited sexual comments. A minority of people believe that women are too quick to interpret men’s behaviour as sexual harassment and that reporting sexually transgressive behaviour is detrimental to your job prospects.

Women are more likely to feel unsafe than men

Women feel more unsafe than men, including in their own living environment such as in the place where they live, in their neighbourhood and when they are at home alone at night. Between 2021 and 2023, feelings of insecurity increased among both men and women. In 2023, for the first time in twelve years, women and men were equally likely to report having been victims of violence. Earlier, more men reported being victims of violence. More women are victims of domestic violence, however. In 2023, 41 women and 84 men lost their lives as a result of violence. In the case of over half the women murdered, the suspected perpetrator was their partner or ex-partner; among men, the suspected perpetrator was the most likely to be an acquaintance.