Netherlands has biggest disparities in EU in men-women working hours: report

In all of the European Union, the Netherlands has the largest differences in the number of hours worked by men and women, according to research by the Dutch social and cultural planning office SCP. In the EU the average number of hours worked per week is 35 hours for women and 39 hours for men. In the Netherlands it is 29 hours for women and 37 hours for men, the Volkskrant reports.

The report shows that, contrary to popular belief, it is not only mothers with young children that opt for part time work in the Netherlands. Young women more often take part time work immediately after completing their qualification than young men. 62 percent of women aged 18 to 25 years work only part time, even if most of the women in this age group don't have children yet. Among men aged 18 to 25 years, only 28 percent work part time.

Young women in the Netherlands are also less likely to be economically independent than young men. The difference is largest in the age group 30 to 34 years, where 66 percent of women are economically independent, compared to 82 percent of men.

After graduating, young men and young women find work about equally often, but women are less satisfied with their jobs and less positive about their career prospects. These differences are the largest in the commercial services.

The SCP also found that women between the ages of 18 and 30 years who work for the government, earn more per hour than their male counterpart. This equals out after the age of 30. In the Dutch business world, women under the age of 25 get a higher hourly wage than men of the same age, but after the age of 30 the women earn less than the men.