Stagnating growth of female professors in Dutch universities, report finds

The number of female professors in the Netherlands is rising very slowly, according to a new report by the Dutch Network of Women Professors (LNVH) released on Thursday. Of all professors, 27.6 percent are women, compared to 26.7 percent last year, marking the lowest growth in eight years.

The organization believes that at this rate, it could take until 2045 to achieve an equal distribution of men and women among professors. The threshold of 30 percent women professors might be crossed by the end of next year.

There was a slight increase in the percentage of women professors at most universities. The percentage of women professors has grown at 12 out of 14 universities. Four universities have surpassed the threshold of 30 percent women professors. The Open University leads with 40.9 percent female professors, followed by Maastricht University (36 percent), Radboud University Nijmegen (31.4 percent), and Leiden University (31.2 percent).

The three technical universities are at the bottom of the list, with Twente at 22.4 percent, Eindhoven at 21.2 percent, and Delft at 18.1 percent female professors.

"Unfortunately, the growth of the share of women professors is stagnating. We must work together to ensure that we achieve the target figures by 2025. This is certainly possible,” said Jouke de Vries, interim-chair Universities of the Netherlands (UNL).

“This Monitor exposes the worrisome trend of stagnating growth rates of women professors. However, it also shows some positive developments that have the potential to lead to a turnaround,” LNVH stated.

The Dutch Network of Women Professors (LNVH) is urging the government to increase funding for female professors, similar to the successful Westerdijk Talent Impulse initiative in 2017, which appointed 100 additional women professors.

The report also shows that while there are more female than male students in the Netherlands, and more women graduate, men are still in the majority among PhD candidates, university lecturers, and senior lecturers. The report shows that at each successive step on the academic career ladder, the percentage of women decreases: from 51.5 percent among students to 45.9 percent among assistant professors, 33.8 percent among associate professors, and 27.6 percent among women professors.