Legislative and policy framework

Since 1983, the Constitution of the Kingdom of the Netherlands (Grondwet) has enshrined the principles of equality and non-discrimination.

The first statutory laws prohibiting discrimination on the ground of sex were the 1975 Equal Pay Act and the 1980 Equal Treatment Act for Men and Women (wet gelijke behandeling van Mannen en Vrouwen). The latter (amended in 1989, 1994, 1998 and 2006 to bring national law in line with EU law) establishes the right to equality for women and men in both private and public employment. The 1994 General Equal Treatment Act (Algemene Wet Gelijke Behandeling)[1] prohibits discrimination in most forms, including labour market discrimination and discrimination on the grounds of religion, political beliefs, race, ethnicity, gender and sexual orientation.

In 2017, the Directorate for Emancipation (Directie Emancipatie) of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science (Ministerie van Onderwijs, Cultuur en Wetenschap) (OCW) introduced a national strategy for equality, the Gender & LGBTI Equality Policy Plan,[2] which covered 2018–2021.[3]

The policy plan was succeeded by the 2022–2025 emancipation note (Emancipatienota).[4] This note is the government document outlining the national policies and strategies aiming to promote gender equality, the emancipation of women and the emancipation of lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, intersex or queer (LGBTIQ) people. The Dutch government periodically reviews this note, and the note serves as a strategic framework for addressing gender disparities and enhancing the position of women in various sectors of society. The emancipation note also focuses on the commitment to gender mainstreaming by stating that mainstreaming can be promoted government-wide through the inclusion of gender impact assessments in the policy note.[5]

Themes of the 2022–2025 emancipation note

  • Work: women’s labour market participation, gender diversity at the top (of both private and public sectors), equal pay, women in technology and entrepreneurship and others.
  • Safety: safety of LGBTIQ people, combating gender-based violence and transgressive behaviour and others.
  • Education and media: gender equality in education, diversity in science, equal representation in the media and audiovisual sector and others.
  • Care: gender-sensitive care, women’s health, transgender care, research and others.
  • Equal treatment and legislation: intersectionality, pregnancy discrimination, artificial insemination, multi-parenthood, unnecessary gender registration and others.
  • International and the Caribbean parts of the kingdom: feminist foreign policy, increased international cooperation, and others.

In 2022, the Gender Balance in Management and Supervisory Boards Act took effect, aiming to ensure balanced representation in large companies, thus addressing the gender pay gap.[6] Progress is monitored by the OCW, which is responsible for monitoring and assessing progress in all areas of women’s emancipation in the Netherlands.

Structures

Governmental gender equality body

The OCW houses the gender equality body. Following a 2007 evaluation of gender mainstreaming, the Netherlands changed its approach to gender mainstreaming and adopted a ‘system responsibility’ approach. Under this revised approach, the OCW takes the lead in national gender equality policy, but has cooperation agreements in place with other ministries for cases in which gender equality priorities fall within those ministries’ policy domains. Significantly, this system responsibility approach means that ministries other than the OCW are held accountable by parliament for the implementation of gender equality policy.

The Directorate for Emancipation, established in 1978 and brought under the OCW in 2007, is responsible for gender equality and the rights of LGBTIQ people.

While the Netherlands has made efforts to increase the networking and cooperation of ministries with the governmental gender equality body, there is no formal structure in place to coordinate gender mainstreaming across government.

Functions of the OCW

  • Setting the agenda and establishing the general framework for gender equality and anti-discriminatory policy for the government.
  • Supporting the embedding of gender equality policies in all ministries.
  • Integrating gender equality considerations into EU and international affairs.
  • Supporting society through knowledge infrastructure and goal-oriented subsidies.
  • Coordinating the implementation of government decisions and international agreements on gender equality.
  • Monitoring and verifying progress achieved in gender equality within the country.

While there is no formal mechanism for departments and ministries to consult the OCW’s Directorate for Emancipation on new or existing policies, laws or programmes in policy fields other than gender equality, consultations do take place informally in 25–50 % of cases. Such consultations lead to related adjustments in the majority of cases.

The Directorate for Emancipation has a total annual expenditure of EUR 23 700 000, with an average of 13 % allocated to non-administrative costs related to gender equality. The directorate is fully funded by the government and has 28 employees, who dedicate 50–75 % of personnel time to gender equality issues due to the department’s expanded mandate across several policy areas.

The OCW reports to parliament at least once a year through the Emancipation Progress Report (Voortgangsrapportage Emancipatie).[7] In addition, an annual legislative consultation (Wetgevingsoverleg) on emancipation is held in the House of Representatives.[8]

Independent gender equality body

The Netherlands Institute for Human Rights (College voor de Rechten van de Mens) is the independent equality body responsible for monitoring, protecting, promoting and raising awareness of issues related to respecting human rights (including equal treatment).[9]

Functions of the Netherlands Institute for Human Rights[10]

  • Making recommendations on claims of discrimination (or other decisions that are not legally binding).
  • Undertaking ex officio investigations.
  • Organising training, advice and capacity-building activities for particular stakeholders on meeting their obligations.
  • Organising awareness-raising and communication activities.
  • Advising the government on the development, adoption and amendment of law and policies.
  • Monitoring national law and policies from an equality perspective.
  • Carrying out specialist research on equality and non-discrimination.
  • Reporting to national and international bodies on discrimination issues.
  • Networking with key entities in the country and internationally.

Endowed with some jurisdictional authority,[11] the institute has legal standing to take cases on its own initiative (Article 13 of the Netherlands Institute for Human Rights Act), but it cannot represent victims before the courts or provide legal advice to people with complaints relating to discrimination. The Netherlands Institute for Human Rights has no legal standing to act as a friend of the court (or amicus curiae) by assisting the court through its expertise or in providing information, but it can do this in practice.

The Netherlands Institute for Human Rights is consulted by departments or ministries in policy areas other than gender equality in less than 25 % of cases; however, the institute does also engage in consultations on its own initiative. If there is a consultation, it leads to the adjustment of policies or legislative instruments in 50–75 % of cases.

According to the institute’s 2023 annual report,[12] the personnel resources of the Netherlands Institute for Human Rights consisted of 100 employees, who spend up to a quarter of their time on gender equality issues.

The Netherlands Institute for Human Rights has a total annual expenditure of EUR 10 483 000 across all areas. Gender equality programmes have EUR 50 000 dedicated towards them; this excludes costs from other discrimination projects that may have an intersectional gender component.

Parliamentary body

The work of the relevant parliamentary body, the Standing Committee on Education, Culture and Science (Commissie Onderwijs, Cultuur en Wetenschap), includes a specific focus on gender equality.[13] Parliamentary members meet once a month to discuss related issues with a minister.

Consultation with civil society

There is no formal arrangement in place for the involvement of civil-society actors in the development of new or existing policies, laws or programmes on gender equality. Despite this, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and citizens can respond to online consultations for legislative proposals, a process that NGOs regularly utilise.

Additionally, every five years, the OCW enters into strategic partnerships with several alliances of NGOs in the field of gender equality. These alliances receive subsidies and entail regular consultations on the subjects of collaboration, but no information is available on the value of the allocated subsidies.

Methods and tools

Note: the methods and tools listed in this section were the focus of EIGE’s 2024 assessment. If certain methods and tools are not mentioned in this section, this does not necessarily mean that they are not used by the Netherlands.

Gender impact assessment

There is a legal obligation to undertake ex ante gender impact assessments when drafting laws and policies[14],[15] under the integrated assessment framework (IAK).

In 2018, the Minister of Foreign Affairs (the minister responsible for coordinating the actions on the UN sustainable development goals) pledged to adapt the IAK[16] to include a component showing how proposed policies and legislation would affect the achievement of the sustainable development goals. The IAK is a tool that guides public administration to consider all relevant information at key points in the policymaking and regulation-making process. The government added new questions on the effects on gender equality[17] (effecten op gendergelijkheid) to the IAK, requiring policymakers to map the nature and extent of the consequences of proposed policies and regulations for gender equality. The quality requirement consists of two parts.

First, the proposal must answer questions and map the effects of the proposed policy on equality between women and men. Where relevant, policymakers must indicate how effects that involve exacerbating or deepening gender inequality will be minimised. Second, the proposal must consult (the representatives of) parties that will be affected. The quality requirement does not necessarily mandate adjustments. Furthermore, while policymakers are obliged to conduct this gender impact assessment, they are not obliged to report on the results in the explanatory memorandum (memorie van toelichting) for passing any new legislation,[18] meaning it is not possible to know whether this assessment has been carried out.

Gender budgeting

There is no legal obligation to undertake gender budgeting. As a result, it is not widely used and it is practically an unknown concept in ministerial budgets.

Training and awareness raising

Training on gender equality is offered to employees of the governmental gender equality body and some employees of other ministries on an ad hoc basis, but participation is not mandatory. Gender equality is often considered part of diversity programmes or assertiveness training, which is sometimes specifically offered to women leaders.

There are some measures in place to raise awareness of gender equality among ministries and other government bodies, including the distribution of printed materials and the running of workshops for the Ministry of Defence and the Ministry of Justice and Security. More recently, information sheets have been created and distributed on the national action plan for gender-based violence and harassment[19] and the policy compass (the central working method for policymaking in the central government).[20]

Gender statistics

Statistics Netherlands (Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek) (CBS) is the national statistical office in the Netherlands. While there is no legal obligation for the CBS to collect data disaggregated by sex, its website does contain sections on gender statistics broken down into themes, including labour, work and care, population, health and education.[21]

Since 2000, the CBS and the Netherlands Institute for Social Research (SCP) have published the Emancipation Monitor (Emancipatiemonitor),[22] developed by the OCW.[23] The Emancipation Monitor is a website that compiles research on the state of women’s emancipation and an update is published biennially, with the 2024 edition aligning policy commitments with the latest data on the status of women and men. The website provides a link to StatLine M/F, which is the CBS’s databank and the Emancipation Monitor database. This platform provides direct access to related datasets, which can be viewed online, downloaded and explored by theme. The Emancipation Monitor is the main tool for the dissemination of sex-disaggregated data through press statements.

The Emancipation Monitor does not produce additional publications, as the website itself contains extensive analysis, similar to an online report. Publications on gender equality are, however, available on an ad hoc basis through the SCP’s website. The SCP was established through a royal decree in 1973. Its official tasks are to monitor, explain and explore social and cultural issues in the Netherlands to inform policymaking. The SCP uses data from the CBS and other sources.

The Netherlands: Institutional mechanisms for gender equality and gender mainstreaming

Monitoring progress

The Netherlands’ institutional mechanisms for gender equality and gender mainstreaming stand above the EU average and show progress compared with 2021.

Explore Netherlands’ scores on the four key indicators on institutional mechanisms for the promotion of gender equality and gender mainstreaming developed to monitor progress on Area H of the Beijing Platform for Action.

The Netherlands: Institutional mechanisms for gender equality and gender mainstreaming

References