A survey of 150 local Dutch governments shows increasing numbers considering measures to become more gender-neutral. A few, such as Amsterdam, have already taken action.
The top three measures are as follows:
Instead of addressing citizens as 'ladies and gentlemen', municipalities are trying to avoid these terms all together and use gender-neutral forms.
Men's and women’s toilets have been replaced by gender-neutral ones at municipal buildings. This was also the case at the local fair in Tilburg this year.
Civil affairs forms constitute the most popular of the proposed measures. These should refer to the gender of the citizen filling them out as little as possible. However, for some digital procedures such as requests for unemployment benefits, this may not be possible.
Many municipalities are considering one or all of these measures, but a few can boast that they already have them in place:
For a detailed overview of the survey visit NOS.