TU Eindhoven called to explain female-only vacancies to Human Rights Council

Eindhoven University of Technology will have to explain why it is considering only female candidates for certain positions to the Netherlands Institute for Human Rights. Anti-discrimination agency RADAR is taking this matter to the human rights institute after receiving many complaints about the recruitment policy, a RADAR spokesperson said to the Telegraaf.

In June TU Eindhoven announced that it is opening a number of vacancies for academic staff exclusively to women, in order to increase the number of female professors at the university. If no suitable female candidate can be found within six months, the vacancy will be opened to men too.

Preferential policies like this one is not prohibited in the Netherlands, but must adhere to strict rules. RADAR therefore wants the Institute for Human Rights to rule on whether TU Eindhoven is adhering to all the rules.

According to the RADAR spokesperson, the anti-discrimination agency received 49 complaints about this policy. Whether any of the complaints were from men who have been rejected for a job at the university, is not clear.

A ruling by the Netherlands Institute for Human Rights is not binding, but can be used as support in other legal procedures.

In 2012 TU Delft was also taken to the Institute for Human Rights over 10 vacancies that were only opened to women. In that case the human rights council ruled that TU Delft was allowed to use this preferential policy because women were underrepresented at the university.