Share of female professors, in the Netherlands and EU countries

What is the proportion of female professors within Dutch universities?

Analysis
The general broad universities have a higher share of female professors than average. The technical universities have a relatively small proportion of female professors.
 

In which scientific areas do most female professors work?

Analysis
Over the past ten years, the share of female professors in the Netherlands shows a steady increase among all scientific areas. Since 2016, the Humanities and Behavioral sciences, as well as Law are the only scientific areas in which over a quarter of the professors (in fte) is female. The lowest share of female professors can be found in the scientific fields Economics, Engineering and Nature sciences with percentages of 18.5%, 19.8% and 20.9% in 2023, respectively. 
 

What is the proportion of female professors within university medical centers?

Analysis
The monitor on female professors, published by the Dutch network of female professors, presents data on female professors at the university medical centers. The average share of female professors at these centers was 31.6% in 2024, which is a bit higher than the average of female professors at most universities. The share varies between 24.2% and 38%. Compared to 2023, the share of female professors increased the most at Amsterdam UMC, FDG VU by 4.5 percentpoints. 
 

How do these figures compare to other European countries?

Analysis
The share of female professors has increased for all countries since 2018, except for the UK and Iceland where the share has remained the same (NB. data for the same years is not available for all countries, see note below graph for the years regarding available data per country). Since 2022, the Netherlands has been in the middle of other European countries in the share of female professors. In 2018, the share in the Netherlands (22.3%) was much lower than in other countries and the Netherlands belonged to the bottom row. With a share of 27.3% in 2022, the Netherlands still lags behind the EU-27 average (29.4%).