Women participation high in Dutch politics, low in business

GENEVE - United Nations’ groups advocate greater participation of women in all levels of society. Two different recent reports offer a conflicting view of Dutch society, the one, a U.N. report, ranks The Netherlands eight out a possible 188 when rating the participation of women in parliament (both, the First and the Second Chamber). Women occupy 40,7 percent of the 225 seats and 50 percent of the presidencies (Dutch labour politician Gerdi Verbeet chairs the Second Chamber). Rwanda leads the U.N. list with 56 percent, Andorra with 50 percent, followed by Cuba, Sweden, Seychelles, Finland and South Africa. Arab countries round out the list with fewest or no women in such positions. The other one, the Mercer Human Capital report, ranks women participation in the upper echelons of the business and organizational world in the Netherlands with nineteen percent very low: 25 out of 30, behind 24th place Germany, and followed by four Middle Eastern countries. For its study, Mercer only researched 5321 entities in 30 countries. It attributes the result to the insistence of Dutch women to hold part-time jobs.