Women lead at seven universities

A census conducted by the Hoger Onderwijs Persbureau running up to International Women’s Day on 8 March reveals that six out of the fourteen universities and half the university colleges in the Netherlands are led by women.

The glass ceiling seems to have all but vanished in executive boards. While unusual in previous times, many women have penetrated the top of Dutch tertiary education.

Eighteen out of the 36 university colleges have a female board president, while men head the remaining eighteen boards. There, the top positions are split fifty-fifty. This equality is not reflected among their fellow board members: there, we find sixteen women and thirty men, including some interim board members.

Six out of the fourteen universities have a female president, while six have a female rector. Combined, the boards are made up of nineteen women and twenty-two men. As of tomorrow, these numbers must be updated when Carolien Kroeze steps up as WUR’s new rector magnificus, bringing the number of female board members up to twenty against 21 males. Two out of the eight board presidents also serve as rector.

International

Dutch boardrooms have a fair female presence compared to universities abroad. The British education magazine Times Higher Education analysed the top 200 in its rankings and counted fifty female board members, making up just one-quarter of the total.

In the United States, fifteen out of the 56 universities are led by women (27 per cent). Out of the 25 British universities, nine are led by women (36 per cent).

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