The number of women in senior management functions in Dutch companies has fallen to 11% this year, according to new research from accountants group Grant Thornton.

This means the Netherlands is only slightly above bottom-ranked Japan and United Arab Emirates, the survey, published on International Women’s Day, shows.

In 2012, 18% of senior jobs in the Netherlands were held by women.

Part-time

While Dutch women are active in industry, they ‘often deliberately opt for a part-time job which makes it difficult to reach the top,’ Grant Thornton partner Karin van Wijngaarden said.

Around 18% of women in the Netherlands work over 35 hours a week, a figure which has remained stable over the past 10 years.

In European and global terms, women hold around one in four of the top private sector jobs.

In China women hold some 51% of senior jobs. They also hold 48% of executive positions in Poland and over 40% in the Baltic states.

Earlier stories
35% of women still don’t have a paid job
Some 60% of women now work