Dutch foundation Talent to the Top (TndT) has revealed that the number of women in top positions in a large selection of Dutch companies rose from 24,6 percent to 26,7 percent last year.

More women in top jobs

The TndT foundation aims to increase diverse talent in leadership positions in companies in the Netherlands. Since its inception in 2008, 275 Dutch companies, including Heineken, Schiphol, and Essent, have signed the "Talent to the Top" charter to increase the number of women working in the Netherlands in jobs at the top. 

In 58 percent of those companies, the proportion of women at the top has increased in the past year. In only 6 percent of the companies did female representation stay the same, and in 36 percent it declined.

By the end of 2019, 54,7 percent of the affiliated companies’ Boards of Directors, and 66,7 percent of Supervisory Board members had achieved gender balance. On average, the chartered companies had Boards of Directors which comprised of 31.4 percent women, and Supervisory Boards with 36,6 percent women. 

Caroline Princen, chairman of the TndT Monitoring Committee, called this increase “historical”, as the changes in 2019 happened faster than ever before.

Talent to the Top

TndT also hands out awards to organisations that demonstrate particularly good developments towards gender equality and diversity in their businesses. Companies that have been highlighted this year are: VodafoneZiggo, Arcadis Nederland, and Rabobank, which will all receive a Diamond Award; Aon, which will receive recognition for their progress as a business that only joined the charter in 2019; and Vanderkruijs, which will receive the Executive Seach Award.

Equality in jobs across the board appears to be improving in the Netherlands, as a recent Statistics Netherlands (CBS) report has also revealed that women now make up the majority of GPs. The number of female Dutch GPs rose by a whopping 30 percent from 2013 to 2018. 

These changes to Dutch businesses come at a time when organisations and companies around the world are working to improve diversity. For example, Germany has announced a national nine-part strategy to promote gender equality and fight the gender pay gap.