LNVH presents annual Monitor of Female Professors
For the second year, NWO Institutes are also included in the study
On 8 December, the National Network of Female Professors (LNVH) published its annual Monitor Female Professors. In the Monitor, the Network shares the latest insights into gender equality in Dutch academia and provides an overview of the representation of women within universities, medical centres and other scientific institutions. The KNAW and NWO Institutes have also been included in this study for the second year in a row. In general, the news is moderately positive: almost one in three professors in the Netherlands is a woman. This percentage is slightly lower at the relatively science-oriented NWO Institutes.
Figures for the NWO Institutes
Based on the male-female distribution among the scientific staff of the Institutes in salary scales 15 to 18 – comparable to the position of a professor – we see that the percentage of female employees in these scales has decreased slightly: from 25 per cent in June 2024 to 23.8 per cent in August 2025, with SRON and ASTRON as positive exceptions, where the percentage is above 50%. Given the predominantly scientific composition and specific research areas of the NWO Institutes, it makes no sense to compare their percentages with the general percentages of universities. A comparison with the proportion of women in the scientific fields of Science and Engineering seems more appropriate. The outcome is as follows: at 23.8 per cent, the proportion of female professors at NWO Institutes is slightly higher than in Science (20.5 per cent) and Engineering (20.7 per cent) at universities. On the other hand, the percentage of female associate professors, lecturers and PhD students affiliated with NWO Institutes is comparable to or lower than in the fields of science and technology at universities, according to the Monitor.
Broad diversity policy at the Institutes
Lidwien Poorthuis is director of the LNVH and explains the Monitor: "Although the Monitor shows a very slight decline at NWO Institutes in the proportion of women in salary scales 15 to 18 (comparable to female professors at universities), I see many encouraging developments at the institutes and in the overarching NWO-I implementation plan. Structural space has now been created for broad diversity and inclusion – with a focus on gender, of course, but also on LGBTI+, cultural and religious background, talents with a migration background, health and stage of life.
In addition, local DIG teams are working at the institute level, training is provided in inclusive recruitment and selection, and there are employee networks for women, but also for neurodiversity, for example, which give space to underrepresented groups. Nevertheless, given the aforementioned decline, there is certainly still room for improvement. It is too early to speak of transformation – the institutes are still in the process of laying the foundations. But with the plan in place and the right structures being built, there is a good basis for actually seeing diversity in the higher job categories within the NWO Institutes increase in the near future.
General conclusions
Looking at the overall average percentage of female professors at Dutch universities, we can cautiously say that the '30 per cent threshold' has been reached at 29.9 per cent. This shows that women are no longer a small minority within the professorial population. Of course, this is not the end goal. Women make up more than half of the students (51.9 per cent) and graduates (54.6 per cent). So there is still a lot of growth to be gained, and if the current trend continues, an equal male-female distribution among professors at universities will most likely not be achieved until 2043 at the earliest.
Read the full press release and the Monitor on the LNVH website.