Women in the workplace: Dutch government hits target early

Last year 31 percent of the nearly 500 executives working in the central government were women. That means that the Dutch government reached the "legal target" of 30 percent two years earlier than planned, the Volkskrant reports. The figures will be officially announced on Wednesday, Accountability Day. On this day the Ministries report on their performance over the past year. Minister Stef Blok of Housing, who is responsible for all civil servants, will have a success to report. Broken down by ministry, the figures show that the Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment is in the lead in terms of proportion female executives, with 44 percent. The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Defense are bringing up the rear with 17 percent and 9 percent respectively. The ambition is to have 30 percent female executives in all forms of business. But the Dutch business life is still far from reaching that target, with only about 10 percent of top executives being women. "The numbers do not lie", Blok said to the newspaper. "Apparently the business life does not give women the boost the government does."