Dutch women are working slightly more hours a week, particularly after the birth of children but are still European champions at part time jobs, according to a new report.

Between 2015, when the last Emancipation Monitor was published, and 2017, the number of hours worked by women a week went up from an average of 27 to 28. The monitor is compiled by the national statistics agency CBS and the SCP government think-tank.

In 2007, 40% of women worked the same number of hours after the birth of a child, but that has now gone up to 60%.

‘Women are still more likely to have a part time job before they get pregnant but they are picking it up again after the birth,’ SCP researcher Wil Portegijs said. ‘One reason for this could be that it is easier to use childcare facilities.’

The increase in the number of hours worked by women means that more mothers are now economically independent. In 2007, 54% of mothers could stand on their own two feet financially but that has now risen to 66%.

Nevertheless, the Netherlands still leads Europe in terms of part time jobs. In total, 74% of women work part time, compared with an an EU average of 31%. But in terms of spending time taking care of children, parents in the Netherlands spent a similar amount of time as elsewhere in Europe.