Third of Dutch women are not yet financially self sufficient, but situation has improved

Three-quarters of adult women in the Netherlands consider it important to be able to support themselves, and 66 percent could actually do so last year. These are women under 65 who are not currently in education. Ten years earlier, in 2011, 57 percent of women were financially independent. Among men, 87 find economic independence important, and 81 percent can support themselves, Statistics Netherlands (CBS) reported in its Emancipation Monitor.

Women’s financial independence largely depends on whether they have children. Before having children, there is little difference between the economic independence of men and women under 45. “The arrival of children is often a turning point in women’s careers,” CBS said. “45 percent of women will work less or stop working if they have a child, compared to less than 7 percent of men.”

Men (72 percent) are more likely than women (55 percent) to say they have to work because their income cannot be missed. Fathers are most likely to state that their income cannot be missed at 77 percent, and fathers are also most often financially independent at 90 percent.

Single mothers with children younger than 12 are least likely to be financially independent, with only 54.9 percent managing to support themselves - earn at least the social minimum. That becomes slightly easier when their children are older, with 65.4 percent of single mothers with kids older than 12 managing to support themselves.

Of the over 1.6 million women who were not economically independent in 2021, 32 percent had paid work. That means they earned less than the social assistance level. According to the statistics office, that was mainly due to working too few hours or having a low hourly wage. 47 percent of these women received social assistance benefits, and 21 percent had no income at all.

Of the 912,000 economically dependent men, 27 percent had paid work but did not earn enough to support themselves. Most (64 percent) were on benefits.