More women than men attending college and university (and have been for decades)

The Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) will release the figures today, on International Women’s Day.

Since the seventies

This has been the case for decades now that more women than men study in higher vocational education or at university, but in the middle of the last century things were very different. Then twice as many men studied. At that time, the numbers were much smaller anyway: about 17,000 women and 45,000 men. From the 1970s, the share of women in higher education began to increase.

By 2022, 60% of women between the ages of 25 and 35 in the Netherlands will have completed higher vocational training or a university degree. For men in the same age group, it was just over half. Among those aged 45 and over, more men than women were highly educated.

Women more often choose to study health care, education and other social subjects. Men, on the other hand, are more likely to study something in technology or computer science.

Weeks of “voluntary” work

Women still earn on average less than men. Last year, the FNV union calculated that women worked “voluntarily” from mid-November to the end of December. According to the union, women earn on average about 13% less per hour than men.