Wednesday is International Women’s day and that means a flurry of articles in the Dutch media focusing on the position of women in society. Here’s a round-up.

Broadcaster NOS looks at the hatred and misogyny directed at female politicians, citing home affairs ministry figures from last year which show 55% of women in politics are confronted with aggression and violence, compared with 46% of men.

‘It we are not careful, the number of women in politics will stagnate or even go down,’ politics professor Liza Mügge told NOS. ‘Gender equality has never been so high as it is now, but you can see that resistance to women in politics is growing.’

Devika Partiman from the Stem op een Vrouw platform (vote for a woman) said aggression is something which is uppermost in women’s minds. ‘We hear it continually, especially from younger women,’ she said.

Education

National statistics agency CBS published statistics showing that the number of women in higher education has now outstripped the number of men for 23 years. In the 2021/22 academic year, 443,000 women were at a university or hbo college, compared with 393,000 men.

Some 60% of women under the age of 35 now have a degree, compared with 52% of men, the CBS said.

Healthcare, social studies and education are the most popular courses among women, who account for just 9% of technology and information science students.

Home life

The CBS also published statistics on Wednesday showing that while four in 10 couples with young children say they want to share parenting, only one in 10 couples actually manage it.

In almost half of couples, men work longer hours than women and women take on more domestic tasks.

At the same time, 35% of men think women are more suited to raising small children than men, a belief shared by just 16% of young mothers themselves.

In fact, 45% of women reduce their hours or stop working altogether when they have a child, but they do start working longer hours when their children go to secondary school. And some 80% of the population in general think mothers with children under the age of four should work no more than 28 hours a week.

Minister

The AD carries an interview with social affairs minister Karien van Gennip who suggests that employers ask their female staff to pick up a couple more hours a week. This, she says, would help ease the shortage of workers.

‘I think it’s important that everyone can make a personal choice,’ the minister said. ‘If a mother wants to work seven days a week, it is fine by me. And if mothers want to be a full time mum, that is also okay. As long as we realise what it means for your pension and financial position.’