This is shown by the staff figures of the universities. To be more exact, 26.7 percent of professors were women last year; this figure has now increased to 27.6 percent.

Following the sharper increases in 2017 and 2018, progress has all but stalled. At this rate, it would take until 2046 for an equal number of male and female full professors in the Netherlands.

The situation varies per university. In Wageningen, the share of women professors has increased by more than three percent. Nijmegen and Tilburg have seen a rise of just over two percent. At TU/e, the increase was 1.3 percentage points. But at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, the percentage of women professors has actually dropped a few decimal points.

Descending one step on the career ladder, we find more women, although the difference as compared to full professors isn’t very big. One in three associate professors is a woman. This figure grew by 1.4 percentage points over the past year. At TU/e in 2022, 18 percent of associate professors were women, one percent less than the previous year.

Looking at lecturers without any research tasks, the majority are women. The same goes for support staff, ranging from receptionists to policy officers.

Men still outnumber women when it comes to PhD candidates, but according to Statistics Netherlands (CBS) the number of men and women having completed a PhD in the past two years is roughly the same. It would appear that men are more likely to take a bit longer or to fail to reach the finish line.