Equileap, the organisation seeking to accelerate gender equality in the workplace, has published the results of its latest research, assessing the largest 100 public companies listed in the Netherlands on their gender equality performance. The Special Report Gender Equality in the Netherlands also includes a specific analysis of gender equality in the supply chain. Commissioned by the organisation Women Win, this report is the first of three to be published over the next three years, to provide the data to help identify the tools to bridge gaps between gender equality goals and outcomes. KPN is the best company in the Netherlands for gender equality.
Diana van Maasdijk, CEO at Equileap, explained: “We see that Dutch companies are beginning to pay attention to gender equality, even though the numbers remain on average far too low. Considering their global dimension, companies in the Netherlands need to realize that they can have a decisive impact on gender equality in their workforce as well as throughout their supply-chains. And, as you can not change what you can not measure, the first step is to publish gender equality data. Typically, a vast majority of Dutch companies (88 of the largest 100) do not publish information on the salaries of their male and female employees yet.“
Maria Bobenrieth, Executive Director, Women Win/Win-Win Strategies, commented: “We are excited to partner with Equileap on this groundbreaking report. The data found is a solid starting point for action in these unprecedented times. We believe the report opens an opportunity to imagine and take concrete steps towards a great correction in addressing gender inequality within the Netherlands’ business sector and throughout supply chains”.
Key findings
The largest 100 Dutch companies have an average gender equality score of 37%, significantly lower than the largest 100 French companies, at 48%.
Gender balance from the board to the workforce
- There are more CEOs named Peter (5) than female CEOs (4).
- No company achieves gender balance at all levels: board, executive, senior management, and workforce.
- Half of the Dutch companies do not have any women at the executive level.
- The only three companies to have gender balance in senior management are Grandvision, Randstad, and SBM Offshore
Addressing key challenges: the pay gap, sexual harassment and career development
- Only two companies have no pay gap: KPN and ASML.
- 88% of Dutch companies do not publish information about their gender pay gap.
- Less than half (48%) of the companies publish anti-sexual harassment policy, a low number which also corresponds to the low European average.
- The majority of companies (74%) ensure access to training and career development opportunities for men and women at all levels of the company.
Gender in de supply chain
- No company address gender when discussing forced labour or human trafficking, while only 17 address gender in term of labour rights.
- 6 in 10 companies conduct due diligence on social and environmental risks throughout supply chain operations, in line with international guiding principles.
- Less than a quarter of companies (19%) have an equal pay for equal work or gender non-discrimination in pay clause in their supplier standards.
Methodology
Unlike any other gender equality research, Equileap uses the world’s first in-depth cross-sector ranking system to assess and monitor thousands of companies across the globe. Its proprietary Gender Equality Scorecard™ consists of 19 criteria including gender balance across the workforce, the gender pay gap, paid parental leave and anti-sexual harassment policies.
The dataset for this report consists of the largest 100 companies in terms of market capitalization listed on the Euronext Amsterdam Stock Exchange as of 24 February 2020. It includes all unique companies on the AEX, AMS, AScX (74 in total), plus the next 26 largest companies on the AAX by market capitalisation, headquartered in the Netherlands. The research for this project closed on 10 July 2020.