The Netherlands is internationally known as Part-time Working Champion. Women in particular often have part-time jobs. This inequality even gives our country a meager 28e place on the Global Gender Gap Index. At the same time, the workforce shortage is greater than ever in almost all sectors. If all part-timers were to work a few more hours, that would solve all kinds of problems. However, 'the system' does not facilitate this. How can we boost the labor participation of women in the Netherlands? Four top women share their vision.
"The new cabinet must really get the Netherlands into the top 10 of this international participation and emancipation ranking," says Tabita Verburg, Contract Operations Director EMEA at Dow.
A total of 4.7 million workers – almost half of the entire working population – have a part-time job, i.e. they work less than 35 hours per week. Of the working women, 77.7% have a part-time job, of the working men 45%. So there is a lot of unused labor potential among the people who are already working. And therefore also a great opportunity to increase labor participation.
Working more must pay off
The special thing is: more than half a million people would like to work more hours. Elly Brand, director of childcare organization Kibeo, also sees this in her organization.
Elly Brand: “The government plan to make childcare virtually free has partly failed due to the staff shortage. But we have enough staff. We employ 1,500 pedagogical professionals, spread across 200 childcare locations. On average they work 22 hours per week. If all part-timers with small contracts worked half a day more, the whole problem would be solved.” However, there is a very important reason not to choose this, according to an employee survey. “It's not worth it.”
A calculation example: a pedagogical employee without a partner and children now works 24 hours. She also receives healthcare and housing allowance. If she works four hours more, those hours will only net her 5 euros per hour. Because that small income increase means she will lose her right to healthcare and housing allowance.
“No one chooses that,” says Elly. “Logical too; Why would you take on so much extra work if it will only make so little progress? That is a big problem.” Tabita: “I was very shocked by those five euros. I knew it was bad, but that bad? It leaves me speechless.”
Our benefits system is an obstacle to higher labor participation, says Elly. “For a pedagogical professional with a partner with a well-paid job and children, working more does yield more. Instead of five euros, she can count on nineteen euros net per additional hour. Due to a higher joint income, she did not receive any benefits and therefore she will not lose them.”
Being home for the kids
Working more therefore pays more for a mother with a working partner. But she doesn't always want to work anymore; motherhood culture is firmly ingrained in our society. Being home for the children is more important than working more hours. Elly: “The countries around us also work part-time, but not to the extent that we do. These differences are partly culturally determined and also inspired by religion. In Scandinavia, women have been encouraged to work since the Second World War. In the Netherlands, the 'breadwinner principle' is more perpetuated, which has (persistently) become part of our culture.
Facilitating working parents
Carolien Kortenoeven, managing director of Smurfit Kappa in Etten-Leur: “The working world is changing. More and more is expected of women. But 'the system' has not moved along.” She has a full-time job, a working husband and two children who are now going to secondary school.
Carolien Kortenoeven: “My children went to childcare as babies. That was Valhalla. The childcare is fully set up and aimed at working parents. You drop off your child early in the morning and pick him up early in the evening. In the meantime, you will not be disturbed unnecessarily. When childcare called, I knew something was really going on.”
The school system, on the other hand, is not at all designed for working parents, Carolien believes. “That starts with school times and holidays. But what I found most intense was having to carry your child around all day long. From pre-school care to school, after-school care, back to school and then to after-school care. I could mop up my kids at the end of the day. Moreover, as a parent - especially as a mother - you are inundated with messages and requests from school. To remove lice, to provide a driver for a trip, and I can name a hundred more examples. All together this affects your feelings of guilt; Of course you don't want to disappoint your children either. That is why I say: please let us organize the school system better. Because the way things are going now is not good. Not for the well-being of the children, not for working parents and labor participation.”
Childcare as a basic provision
The four women believe that a lot of changes need to be made for better education and higher labor participation. Rianne Vons, director of Childcare Zeeuws-Vlaanderen: “The current system simply no longer fits in with today's society. We have to get rid of fragmentation. It is actually strange that childcare is not a basic provision, just like primary school. If we really want to do something about equality of opportunity, childcare, just like education, must become widely accessible. Both in terms of time/logistics and financially, for working and non-working parents.”
Integrating school and childcare
Rianne: “If we were to organize the school system differently, and all children could play and learn together in one place as standard from, for example, 8 a.m. to 5 or 6 p.m. - one school/childcare combination where didactics and pedagogy intermingle... Then there would be less inequality among children. It has been this way for years in France, among other places. Working parents can work without feeling guilty. And non- or part-time working parents can work more, after all, staying at home with the children is no longer an issue. Which greatly benefits labor participation.”
Elly adds: “It would also make the work of pedagogical and educational professionals more valuable and less fragmented. Moreover, if children all come to us at the same – later – age and stay longer, we can do our pedagogical work better. At school there are clear differences between children who did and did not go to daycare. In areas such as language development, independence and establishing relationships.”
Organize parental leave differently
The women also have ideas to make such a new system workable. Organizing parental leave differently, for example. Or adjust the work costs scheme to provide free childcare, at least in the pedagogical sector. Elly: “Childcare is a major expense for working parents. It seems very logical for a childcare organization to offer its own employees free childcare. And if we could, we would. But unfortunately it's not that easy. This has to do with all kinds of tax regulations. This applies to all employers, not just us. Expanding the work costs scheme and earmarking it could be an immediate remedy. Our employees can then work more without any net deterioration.”
Rianne adds: “In Belgium, children go to school from the age of two and a half. Free and with a continuous schedule. We can still learn a lot from how they work at our southern neighbors. That is why we have started a number of pilots, with great results. We are experimenting, among other things, with free childcare two days a week at three locations for a year. There we see that about twenty percent of parents have started working more. I think that's really a lot. And another approximately five percent have started working or studying. A number of people said: I dare again now. A cautious conclusion: such measures have an effect. It would be great if we could investigate these kinds of things further, on a larger scale.”
Emancipation must be higher on the political agenda
According to the four women, it is clear that action is necessary. Tabita: “The Netherlands is at 28e place in the Global Gender Gap Index, among countries such as Rwanda, Namibia and the Philippines! As a Dutch woman, I am a bit ashamed of that.” The Global Gender Gap Index is the annual indicator of inequality between men and women from the World Economic Forum (WEF). The research is conducted in 146 countries and measures, among other things, differences between men and women in the areas of economic participation and political influence. Our neighboring countries Belgium and Germany are in the top 10. “In top 10 countries such as Denmark and Germany, the 'stay-at-home-with-children mentality' may have previously been even stronger than ours. They have made enormous progress and implemented targeted emancipation policies much faster and more successfully.”
Enter the top 10
Tabita wants Den Haag to make this issue a priority, the other ladies agree.
“We want to be in the top 10 in five years! A country like the Netherlands cannot be missing from this, right? Of course, it is not the case that we have to be in the top 10 for our good name, but mainly because it would mean that we have solved all kinds of problems. Apart from gender equality, for example, there are also problems in the labor market and participation and therefore also the economy.” – Tabita Verburg
Integrated approach
However, in the Netherlands we do not yet have an integrated approach to increasing labor participation. According to the top women, this is where the national government plays an important role. The current policy is more of a hindrance than an activator. Tabita: “The government must measure, regulate and encourage more. And employers will be happy to cooperate, especially given the current tight labor market. Simply because we really need people. And so a lot of labor potential is not being used. Both men and women, employers and employees, have a role to play in changing that mindset, in order to make drastic acceleration in emancipation policy.”