SDG 5 Gender equality

SDG 5 concerns equal treatment of men and women and gender equality in society. By 2030, men and women should have equal rights when it comes to education, health care and work. Women should have the same opportunities as men to participate in politics, business and public life, and violence against women and girls must be put to an end.

• The gender gap in economic independence and remuneration is narrowing.
• Women's healthy life expectancy is two years shorter than that of men, on average. It is also low in comparison to other EU countries.
• The proportion of women in management positions is low compared with other EU countries.

Dashboard and indicators

Colour codes and notes to the dashboards in the Monitor of Well-being

Men and women have equal rights in the Netherlands. Nevertheless, women and girls have fewer opportunities in various areas, such as work, care and public influence. However, women are more likely than men to have completed higher education.

Resources and opportunities refer to the rights and freedoms of men and women and the opportunities they have to exercise them. Currently, there are no indicators available for this category that comply with the quality criteria of this report.

Use concerns the extent to which men and women participate in society and business. This includes participation in education. The majority of students who have completed higher education are women (53.4 percent in the 2025/2026 academic year), and this proportion is increasing. Since degree programmes in higher education are mainly followed by students well beyond the compulsory education age, they provide a good indication of the actual take-up of educational opportunities. The ratio of male to female students in higher education is more balanced in the Netherlands than in other EU countries. The share of women in higher education exceeds 50 percent across all EU countries.

In 2025, net labour participation (the proportion of the population aged 15 to 74 who are employed) was the highest for both men and women since the start of this time series in 2003. Net labour participation is increasing in both groups. The labour participation rate in the Netherlands is higher for men than for women. In 2025, the figure was 77.2 percent for men, compared to 69.3 percent for women. The gender gap in labour participation has hardly narrowed since 2019. The labour participation rate among women is the highest compared to other EU countries. For men, only Malta has a higher labour participation rate. Although relatively many men and women work, 19 percent of men and 65 percent of women aged 25 to 64 have part-time jobs.

Outcomes concern the degree of gender equality. The gender gap in economic independence between men and women has narrowed from 18.3 percentage points in 2018 to 12.6 percentage points in 2024. In 2024, 70 percent of women aged between 15 and the state pension age not in education were economically independent. CBS defines economic independence as having an income (from being employed or self-employed) of at least 70 percent of the minimum wage. Men are more likely to be economically independent (82.6 percent in 2024) than women. The economic independence of both men and women is trending upwards. This increase is more pronounced in women than in men.

The proportion of men and women who complete higher education is rising. In 2025, the share continued to increase among women, with 39.4 percent completing a higher education programme, versus 37 percent of men. The proportion of men with a higher education qualification, however, remains high compared to other EU countries. For women, the proportion is around the EU average.

The gender gap in gross hourly pay is gradually closing. The difference in hourly wages between men and women declined to 9.7 percent in 2025. The fact that hourly wages for women are lower than those for men is partly due to differences in terms of age, part-time work, career choices and representation in leadership positions. Some of the discrepancies can also be attributed to the sectors in which men and women are employed. The pay gap in the private sector, for example, is wider than in the public sector.

The proportion of female MPs is trending upwards again and rose in 2025 compared with 2024. A measure of the extent to which women have equal access to the parliamentary decision-making process is their representation in the Dutch House of Representatives. On 1 February 2025, 39.3 percent of MPs were women, with new elections being held in October. As regards the number of female MPs, the Netherlands is among the leading countries in the EU. In the private sector, three out of ten managers were women in 2025. This proportion is low compared to other EU countries.

On average, women live longer than men. However, they spend a greater proportion of their lives in poorer health. In 2025, healthy life expectancy was once again lower for women than for men (62.0 versus 64.1 years). Healthy life expectancy for women in the Netherlands is also low compared to other EU countries. For men, the Netherlands’ position is towards the middle of the ranking.

In 2025, 3.4 in every thousand women aged 15 and over reported having been victims of violence at the hands of their current or former partner. As part of the aim of social safety for all citizens, reducing intimidation and violence directed at women is one of the key priorities of this SDG. One aspect of this is physical and/or sexual violence by current or former partners.

Subjective assessment refers to people’s experience of gender equality or inequality. Currently, there are no indicators available for this category that comply with the quality criteria of this report.