SDG 5 Gender equality

SDG 5 concerns equal treatment of men and women and gender equality in society. By 2030, men and women should have equal rights when it comes to education, health care and work. Women should have the same opportunities as men to participate in politics, the economy and public life, and violence against women and girls should end.

• The narrowing of the gender gap in labour force participation has stalled in recent years.
• The economic autonomy of both men and women is increasing. This increase is more pronounced in women than in men.
• On average, women live longer than men, but they spend a greater share of their lives in poorer health.

Dashboard and indicators

Colour codes and notes to the dashboards in the Monitor of Well-being

Although men and women have equal rights in the Netherlands, women and girls are still behind in various areas, including to work, care and public influence.

Resources and opportunities refers to the rights and freedoms of men and women and their ability to exercise them. No indicators that meet the quality criteria of this report are currently available for this category.

Use refers to the extent to which men and women participate in society and the economy. This also includes participation in education. As degree programmes in higher vocational education (HBO) and universities (WO) are mainly populated by students well beyond the compulsory education age, they provide a good indication of how educational opportunities are actually taken up. The majority of HBO and WO students are women (53.4 percent in the 2023/2024 academic year), and this proportion is increasing. The share of women in higher education exceeds 50 percent across all EU countries. Compared to the rest of the EU, the proportion of female students in the Netherlands is low.

In 2024, net labour participation (the proportion of the population aged 15 to 74 who are employed) among both men and women was the highest since the start of this time series in 2003. The employment rate of men is higher than that of women in the Netherlands. In 2024, the participation rate was 77.2 percent for men, compared to 69.2 percent for women, and both are trending upwards. Although women have been catching up with men over the past two decades, the narrowing of the gender gap in labour force participation has stalled in recent years. The Netherlands has the highest labour force participation rate for both men and women compared to other EU countries.

Outcomes refers to the effects of social and economic participation on gender equality. In 2024, 80 percent of women under 65 who were not in education felt it was important to be able to support themselves financially. The share of women who are actually economically independent is smaller: in 2023, 69.5 percent of women between the age of 15 and the state pension age (excluding schoolchildren and students) earned more than 70 percent of the minimum wage. This share has been growing since 2017 and continued to increase in 2023. A higher proportion of men (91 percent) believe it is important to be able to support themselves, and men are also more likely to be actually economically independent (82.8 percent in 2023). The economic autonomy of both men and women is increasing, but this increase is more pronounced among women than among men. The gender gap in economic autonomy has narrowed from 19.0 percentage points in 2017 to 13.3 percentage points in 2023.

The proportion of men and women with an HBO or WO degree is rising. In 2024, 38.3 percent of women had completed a higher education programme, versus 35.7 percent of men. The proportion of men with a higher education diploma does remain high compared to the rest of the EU. For women, the proportion is average.

The gender gap in gross hourly pay is also gradually closing – from 15 percent in 2017 to 10.5 percent in 2024. The Netherlands’ performance on this indicator is average compared to the rest of the EU. The fact that women’s hourly earnings are lower than men’s is partly due to differences in terms of age, part-time work, career choices and representation in leadership positions. Some of the discrepancies can also be attributed to the industries in which men and women are employed. The pay gap in business, for example, is wider than in government.

One measure of the extent to which women have equal access to the parliamentary decision-making process is their representation in the Dutch House of Representatives. In 2024, 38.7 percent of MPs were women. Although this figure is lower than the previous year, the Netherlands still ranks among the top performers in the EU on this indicator. Three out of 10 managers were women in 2024. Female representation in leadership positions is low compared to other EU countries.

On average, women live longer than men, but they spend a greater share of their lives in poorer health. In 2024, healthy life expectancy (the number of years someone is expected to live in good or very good health) was lower for women than for men (62.0 versus 63.5 years). Healthy life expectancy for women in the Netherlands is also low compared to other EU countries. For men, the Netherlands is in the middle of the pack. The figures used for the international comparison are based on a slightly different definition than those used for the domestic trend: the international comparison is based on life expectancy without limitations.

In striving for social safety for all citizens, reducing intimidation and violence directed at women is one of the key priorities of this SDG. One aspect of this is physical and/or sexual violence by current or former partners. In 2023, 3.5 out of every 1,000 women experienced violence at the hands of a current or former partner. Due to changes in the survey on violence, outcomes from 2021 onwards cannot be compared to those from previous editions.

Subjective assessment refers to people’s experience of gender equality or inequality. No indicators that meet the quality criteria of this report are currently available for this category.