Women judges discriminated against with lower pay: Human Rights Institute

Women aspiring to be judges were discriminated against between 1994 and 2023, according to the Netherlands Institute for Human Rights. Women appointed as trainee judges received a lower salary than men in the same position. This difference cannot be justified, the institute said in a non-binding ruling.

The case was brought by the women’s rights organization Bureau Clara Wichmann. Research showed that the salary of male trainee judges was approximately 3.5 percent higher than the salary of female trainee judges. In the years after their appointment, the gender wage gap only widened.

The difference applied between 1994 and 2023. When appointing trainee judges, the State considered their last-earned salary, basing their salary as a trainee judge on that. The fear was that if people were worse off financially, they would not want to become judges. According to the Human Rights Institute, the State could have increased the salary of female appointees to eliminate the distinction.

The last salary also says nothing about someone’s contribution in a new position, the institute added. Consider, for example, a lawyer with 15 years of experience in social law and a low final salary, and a lawyer from commercial law with six years of experience and a higher final salary.

Trainee judges who complete their training are appointed as judges. Then there is virtually no salary difference between men and women. According to the Human Rights Institute, that shows there is discrimination in this case.

The Netherlands Institute for Human Rights also examined complaints from three individual women. They received a lower salary than comparable men without good reason and were therefore discriminated against, the institute ruled.

“In one of the cases, the male colleague received €1,914.65 gross per month more than the female colleague for equivalent work, even though they had virtually the same work experience,” the institute stated.