Business · Companies · 16 hrs ago
Women hold 18% of board director roles at Dutch listed companies
At 81 listed companies in the Netherlands, women hold 18% of board director roles.
Women make up 44% of supervisory board members, compared with 8% when the Female Board Index began in 2006.
A third of director roles may not be held by women until 2044 if the current pace continues.
A legal quota applies to supervisory boards, but not to board directors.
The index tracks gender representation in senior roles, and its compiler says the rankings have prompted some companies to appoint more women.
The government says progress is too slow, especially among board directors.
State Secretary for Emancipation Judith Tielen will evaluate the quota next year and discuss ways to speed up progress with companies, organisations and women.
Women hold 18% of executive board roles at the 81 companies listed in the Netherlands, according to the latest Female Board Index.
Women make up 44% of supervisory board members, a level above one-third.
Professor Mijntje Lückerath-Rovers said the rise in female executive appointments is not accelerating and remains disappointing.
If the current trend continues, women will not make up one-third of executive board members until 2044.
The number of companies with at least one-third women on both boards rose to 21 from 17 last year.
- Who
- Women serving on executive boards and supervisory boards at Dutch listed companies.
- What
- Women hold 18% of executive board roles and 44% of supervisory board roles.
- When
- The latest figures are from the 2026 Female Board Index.
- Where
- The 81 companies listed in the Netherlands.
- Why
- The figures reflect women’s representation in top roles; the sources do not state a single cause for the difference between the two boards.
Female Board Index researcher Mijntje Lückerath-Rovers
State Secretary for Emancipation Judith Tielen
Progress
Female Board Index researcher Mijntje Lückerath-Rovers
Lückerath-Rovers says the rise in female executive appointments remains disappointing and would take until 2044 to reach one-third at the current trend.
State Secretary for Emancipation Judith Tielen
Tielen says the number of women in senior roles is growing too slowly, particularly among executive board members.
Policy response
Female Board Index researcher Mijntje Lückerath-Rovers
Lückerath-Rovers notes that a legal threshold applies to supervisory board members but not executive board members.
State Secretary for Emancipation Judith Tielen
Tielen says she will evaluate the legal quota next year and speak with companies, organisations and women about what is needed to accelerate progress.
Lückerath-Rovers started the Female Board Index, aiming for women to hold one-third of supervisory and executive board roles.
She began ranking all listed companies in the Netherlands for the research.
Seventeen companies had at least one-third women on both their executive and supervisory boards.
The latest index found that 21 companies met that threshold, while women held 18% of executive board roles and 44% of supervisory board roles.
Tielen plans to evaluate the legal quota and discuss ways to increase women’s representation in senior and management roles.
- Listed companies studied
- 81
- Women on executive boards
- 18%
- Women on supervisory boards
- 44%
- Companies with at least one-third women on both boards
- 21, up from 17 last year
- Projected one-third share of female executive directors
- 2044 at the current trend
- Boards split equally between women and men
- PostNL, Triodos, Fastned and Hydratec
What people are saying
I had hoped we would have reached the goal by now that I started the list with twenty years ago.
On the one hand, the share of female supervisory directors has been rising for several years, but on the other hand, the rise in the number of female executive directors is disappointingly slow.
Employees must continue to speak up for more women in board positions.
Since the introduction of the legal quota, the number of women in top positions has risen, and that is good. But it is going slowly.