More women confirmed as mayors across Dutch municipalities

Of the 35 new mayors appointed in the Netherlands this year, 12 are women - the highest number of women appointed mayor in a year in Dutch history, according to a study by Binnelands Bestuur. The Netherlands now counts 81 female mayors, five more than in 2016.

"With that, we have broken through the glass ceiling", Ruud van Bennekom, secretary of Dutch association of mayors NGB, said to newspaper AD.

Van Bennekom added that some provinces are doing remarkably well. Limburg, for example, closed a considerable gap in the past few years. "Since Theo Bovens became governor in Limburg, the number of female mayors rose considerably." Now half of the mayors in the province are women. Such a development is also visible in Zeeland.

Other provinces still lag behind. But more and more women are applying for a position as mayor. The proportion of female applicants rose from 21 percent in 2015 to 30 percent this year.