In the Netherlands, the gender pay gap currently sits at around 14% when measured as the unadjusted gap, meaning women earn roughly 14% less than men on average across all sectors. When adjusted for factors like working hours, sector, and job level, the gap narrows to around 6 to 8%. The gap affects women across industries and career levels, though it hits hardest in finance, tech, and senior leadership roles. Below, we break down what drives the gap, how it has shifted over time, and what is being done to close it.
How big is the gender pay gap in the Netherlands in 2026?
The gender pay gap in the Netherlands in 2026 stands at approximately 14% in unadjusted terms, placing the Netherlands slightly above the EU average. This means that for every euro a man earns, a woman earns roughly 86 cents. While this figure has been improving gradually over the past decade, progress remains slow, and the gap is still clearly present across most sectors and age groups.
It is worth noting that the Netherlands has one of the highest rates of part-time work among women in the EU. Because many Dutch women work part-time, a significant portion of the raw pay gap reflects differences in working hours rather than unequal pay for identical work. However, even after controlling for those differences, a measurable gap remains, which points to structural and cultural factors at play.
What causes the gender pay gap in the Netherlands?
The gender pay gap in the Netherlands is caused by a combination of occupational segregation, differences in working hours, underrepresentation of women in senior roles, and unconscious bias in pay and promotion decisions. No single factor explains it entirely, and the causes reinforce each other over time.
Here are the main drivers:
- Part-time work: The Netherlands has a strong culture of part-time employment, and women make up the vast majority of part-time workers. Part-time roles often come with lower hourly rates, fewer promotion opportunities, and less access to bonuses.
- Occupational segregation: Women are overrepresented in lower-paid sectors like care, education, and retail, while men dominate higher-paid fields like tech, engineering, and finance.
- The motherhood penalty: Women’s earnings often dip after having children, while men’s tend to stay the same or rise. Career breaks, reduced hours, and taking on more unpaid care work all contribute to this.
- Underrepresentation in leadership: Senior and executive roles are still predominantly held by men. Because these positions carry the highest salaries, the leadership gap directly inflates the overall pay gap.
- Negotiation gaps: Research consistently shows that women negotiate salaries less frequently than men, and are sometimes penalized socially when they do. This makes salary negotiation skills particularly important for women at every career stage.
What’s the difference between the adjusted and unadjusted pay gap?
The unadjusted pay gap compares the average gross earnings of all men and all women, regardless of job type, hours, or seniority. The adjusted pay gap controls for those variables, comparing men and women doing the same job at the same level for the same hours. In the Netherlands, the unadjusted gap is around 14%, while the adjusted gap is closer to 6 to 8%.
Both figures matter, but for different reasons. The adjusted gap tells you whether women are paid less for equal work, which is the most direct measure of pay discrimination. The unadjusted gap tells you the bigger picture: the cumulative effect of the choices, structures, and barriers that push women into lower-paid jobs, fewer hours, and lower seniority levels.
Focusing only on the adjusted gap can be misleading, because it treats occupational segregation and part-time work as neutral choices rather than outcomes shaped by social expectations, caregiving responsibilities, and systemic bias. A complete picture requires looking at both.
Has the gender pay gap in the Netherlands improved over time?
Yes, the gender pay gap in the Netherlands has improved over time, but the pace has been slow. Over the past two decades, the unadjusted gap has decreased by several percentage points, driven by higher educational attainment among women, increased workforce participation, and growing awareness of pay equity issues.
However, progress has stalled in recent years. The adjusted gap in particular has proven stubborn, suggesting that simply getting more women into work is not enough. Without addressing promotion barriers, negotiation dynamics, and leadership representation, the remaining gap is difficult to close through participation alone.
One area of genuine improvement is the gender gap at entry level. Younger women entering the workforce today face a smaller initial pay gap than previous generations. The problem is that the gap widens significantly over time, particularly after women reach their 30s and 40s, the years when caregiving responsibilities tend to peak and career trajectories diverge.
Which industries have the largest gender pay gap in the Netherlands?
In the Netherlands, the largest gender pay gaps are found in the financial services sector, followed by information and communication technology, and professional and scientific services. These industries combine high average salaries with low representation of women in senior roles, which amplifies the gap.
The financial sector consistently shows one of the widest gaps, partly because of its bonus culture. Bonuses and variable pay are distributed less equally than base salaries, and women tend to receive lower bonuses even when controlling for performance and seniority.
By contrast, the public sector and education tend to have smaller pay gaps, largely because salary scales are more transparent and standardized. This points to an important insight: pay transparency and structured salary frameworks actively reduce the gap. Industries where pay is more opaque and negotiated individually tend to have wider disparities, which is exactly why developing strong salary negotiation skills matters so much for women working in those environments.
What is the Netherlands doing to close the gender pay gap?
The Netherlands is taking several legislative and policy steps to close the gender pay gap, with pay transparency emerging as the most significant lever. The EU Pay Transparency Directive, which the Netherlands must implement by 2026, requires companies with 100 or more employees to report on pay gaps by gender and to act on significant disparities. This is expected to accelerate progress meaningfully.
Additional measures include:
- Pay reporting obligations: Large employers will need to disclose average pay differences between men and women in comparable roles, making it harder to ignore or dismiss gaps.
- Right to pay information: Employees will have the right to request information about pay ranges and average pay levels for comparable roles, which directly supports salary benchmarking and informed negotiation.
- Childcare reform: The Dutch government has been expanding access to affordable childcare to reduce the financial incentive for women to reduce hours after having children.
- Board diversity targets: Listed companies in the Netherlands are subject to gender diversity targets for supervisory boards, which is gradually increasing female representation at the top.
These are meaningful steps, but legislation alone will not close the gap. Individual action matters too, and that includes knowing your market value, practicing salary negotiation, and building the kind of professional network that opens doors to senior opportunities.
That is exactly where we come in. At Female Ventures, we run workshops and events specifically designed to help women build the skills and confidence to navigate these challenges, from salary negotiation tips to leadership development and peer mentoring. If you want to take practical steps toward closing your own pay gap, come to one of our upcoming events or join our community to connect with women who are doing exactly that.
Frequently Asked Questions
How can I find out if I'm being underpaid compared to my male colleagues?
Start by benchmarking your salary using tools like CBS StatLine, Loonwijzer.nl, or Glassdoor to compare your compensation against market rates for your role, sector, and experience level. Under the upcoming EU Pay Transparency Directive, you will also have the legal right to request information about pay ranges and average pay for comparable roles within your company. If you suspect a gap exists, document your responsibilities, performance, and any relevant comparisons before raising the conversation with HR or your manager.
What practical steps can I take right now to start closing my personal pay gap?
The most impactful immediate step is to negotiate — whether you're starting a new role, up for a review, or taking on additional responsibilities. Research shows that simply asking can yield significant results, yet many women skip this step. Beyond negotiation, invest in visibility within your organization, seek out sponsorship (not just mentorship) from senior leaders, and actively pursue roles and projects in higher-paid functions or sectors. Building these skills through workshops and peer communities, like those offered by Female Ventures, can make a concrete difference.
Does the gender pay gap affect women differently depending on their age or career stage?
Yes, significantly. The gap tends to be smallest at the start of a career, with younger women often entering the workforce on near-equal footing with men. However, the gap widens sharply from a woman's late 20s onward, typically accelerating after the birth of a first child. This is when the motherhood penalty, reduced hours, and slower promotion rates compound over time — meaning the earlier women build negotiation skills, network strategically, and advocate for their career progression, the better positioned they are to limit long-term earnings loss.
Will the EU Pay Transparency Directive actually make a difference for individual employees in the Netherlands?
Yes, in practical terms it is one of the most significant changes in decades for individual workers. Once implemented, employees at companies with 100 or more staff will be able to request data on average pay for comparable roles, broken down by gender — giving you a factual basis for salary conversations rather than having to rely on informal or incomplete information. Companies will also be required to take corrective action where unjustified gaps are found, which shifts accountability from the individual to the employer. That said, knowing your rights and being prepared to use them will remain essential.
Is working part-time always a disadvantage when it comes to pay equity?
Not inherently, but in practice part-time work in the Netherlands often comes with real trade-offs beyond just fewer hours. Part-time employees can face lower hourly rates in some roles, reduced access to bonuses, and slower career progression due to less visibility and fewer opportunities to take on high-profile projects. If you work part-time, it's worth negotiating your hourly rate explicitly, staying connected to promotion cycles, and making your contributions highly visible to decision-makers — the same output in fewer hours should be recognized, not penalized.
What is the 'motherhood penalty' and how can women protect their careers from it?
The motherhood penalty refers to the measurable drop in earnings and career progression that many women experience after having children, while men's earnings tend to remain stable or even increase (sometimes called the 'fatherhood bonus'). It stems from a combination of career breaks, reduced hours, taking on the majority of unpaid caregiving, and employer bias — conscious or not — about women's commitment after becoming mothers. To mitigate it, women can negotiate clear return-to-work terms before taking parental leave, maintain professional visibility during leave where possible, and re-anchor their salary expectations upon returning rather than accepting a passive rollover of previous terms.
Are there specific sectors in the Netherlands where women are more likely to achieve pay parity?
Yes — the public sector, education, and healthcare tend to have smaller gender pay gaps, largely because salaries are governed by standardized pay scales and collective labor agreements that leave less room for individual negotiation bias. If pay equity is a priority for you when evaluating career moves, researching whether a prospective employer uses transparent, structured salary bands is a useful signal. That said, these sectors also tend to have lower overall salary ceilings, so the trade-off between pay equity and earning potential is worth weighing based on your personal goals.