Dutch firms warned about women in top jobs, quotas may come

Dutch companies need to appoint more women to top jobs, otherwise the Netherlands will end up introducing an official quota, education minister Jet Bussemaker says in Thursday’s Trouw.

‘I consider a quota to be a killer remedy and I will do all I can to prevent it,’ the minister said. ‘But if companies don’t change, the political pressure in the Netherlands for a formal requirement will increase. Germany should be viewed as a stimulus and a warning. Next year significant advances need to be made.’

On Wednesday the German government said it would require companies to ensure 33% of their executives are female from 2016. The Netherlands has the same target but there is no legal requirement.

2027

Trouw said Bussemaker is soon to hold talks with Hans de Boer, chairman of the employers’ association VNO/NCW about the situation. Some 6% of the members of management boards at Dutch firms are female, as are 26% of supervisory board members.

If progress in the Netherlands continues at its present rate, it will be 2027 before one-third of Dutch board members are female.

Norway earlier introduced a quota and that has boosted the number of women in top jobs from 22% to 42%. In France, the number of women on boards went up to 30% from 10% over five years, following the introduction of legislation, Trouw says.