The background

• 27.05.2009

The decision to create the Task Force was taken by the Dutch cabinet, the association of employers and the labour unions at a top-level conference in 2007. The reason underlying it is that among Dutch women small part-time jobs are so popular that only around 40 percent of them are financially independent.

Compared to other EU nations, women were late to join the labour force in the Netherlands. Until well after World War II, they were expected to devote themselves wholly to their duties of wife and mother. As late as the 1980s, it was common practice for companies delivering goods and services to the home to assume that there would always be someone to open the door to them.

Since those days, a lot has changed. Research commissioned by the Task Force shows that today around 70 percent of Dutch women - more than in countries like Germany and the United Kingdom - are gainfully employed. The bad news, for the Dutch economy and for Dutch society as a whole, is that three-quarters of these women have smaller part-time jobs, i.e. working less than 24 hours. The difference with the surrounding countries is dramatic: on average, the number of part-timers among Europe's working women is only 40 percent.