Male executives outnumber females in two thirds of professions

Men are overrepresented in the highest level of two thirds of professional groups in the Netherlands. The remaining one third of professions which count more women in the top are mainly in the care and welfare sector, and in education, Statistics Netherlands reported on Wednesday.

Women are often outnumbered by men in professions at the top of the government and the business community. Last year 36 percent of the members of Dutch parliament were women and women filled 38 percent of senior government service positions. Though there were more female than male judges, 63 percent women.

Women are very much in the minority when it comes to the boards and supervisory boards of companies. In 2017, one in five top managers of the 500 largest companies in the Netherlands was female, and less than one in six top managers of the 5 thousand largest companies.

The professions that have more women than men in the highest level are in the care and welfare sector and in education. These are also the sectors in which more women than men work. Last year more than 80 percent of the workers in the professions specialized nurses and teachers in primary education were women. Other professions with more than 70 percent women include social worker, psychologist and sociologist, and physical therapist.

Men working at a high professional level are in the vast majority in IT, technology and management. Last year men accounted for 90 percent of the workers in the professions electrical engineer, logistics manager, IT manager, and production manager.

According to the stats office, this largely corresponds to men and women's choice of study direction. Of the highly educated 15 to 75 year olds with a diploma in healthcare and welfare last year, 73 percent were women. In education, that was 72 percent. Of adults in the Netherlands with a diploma in computer science, 87 percent were men. In technology, 92 percent were men. With the exception of computer science, design, art, languages and history, the proportion of women is higher among 15 to 45 year olds than among 45 to 75 year olds.