For the very first time, there are more than a thousand women full professors in the Netherlands. They make up 28.7 percent of the total. Their share increased at all universities, but least in Delft.
TBM professors have a get-together during the post-opening reception at the opening of the academic year 2024/2025. (Photo: Thijs van Reeuwijk)
Women are still at a disadvantage in the academic world and this is only changing very slowly. The share of women professors increased by 1.1 percentage point this past year, says the annual monitor of the Dutch Network of Women Professors. In Delft, the increase was slightly less at 0.8 percentage points (from 18.1 to 18.9 per cent).
Things are moving a bit faster again compared to the two previous years, when the growth percentage stayed under 1 percent. If things continue like this, it could take another twenty years before there’s an equal share of men and women full professors, the monitor says. In Delft even just under 40 years .
No outliers
There are no ‘outliers’, as the monitor calls them, but in Tilburg the percentage increased the most: 2.1 percent. At Erasmus University Rotterdam, which already ranked at the bottom of the list anyway, it actually decreased by 0.2 percent.
The Open Universiteit is the only one that has been above 40 percent for years. Maastricht follows at a respectful distance, with 36 percent. Most general universities are at around 30 percent, with the exception of Erasmus University. Delft University of Technology brings up the rear.
In 2020, the Dutch Network of Women Professors (LNVH) asked universities for their targets for 2025. Four out of fourteen achieved this percentage, says the monitor. They are Erasmus University, Tilburg University, the Open Universiteit and the University of Amsterdam.
The network says that eight universities “are not on track to meet their targets”. This also means that the nationwide figure of 31.2 percent women professors isn’t expected to be achieved either.
Full-time
Women are slightly more likely to work full-time than men. The above figures have been converted to full-time jobs (FTE). If you look at the number of people (irrespective of the size of their appointment), the percentage of women professors is not 28.7 but 28.3 percent.
The figures from the university medical centres aren’t included in the national staff figures of the universities. The LNVH therefore made its own inquiries. At the UMCs, the share is 31.6 percent, with 39.3 percent at VU Amsterdam and 27.8 percent in Rotterdam.
Dark clouds
The network is fearful of the future, given the planned cuts in higher education and research. “Dark clouds are gathering over the sector”, the press release reads. Topics like gender equality and diversity will come under pressure, the LNVH predicts. “People in precarious positions, often women – as this monitor again highlights – are particularly vulnerable.”
Caspar van den Berg, president of umbrella organisation Universities of the Netherlands (UNL), says the following in a response: “The monitor shows we still have a long way to go to achieve equal representation in academia.” He does say it’s encouraging that, according to the monitor, there are enough women working in science that could become full professors when men retire.
HOP, Bas Belleman
Translation: Taalcentrum-VU
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