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EGGE – EC’s Expert Group on Gender and Employment
The Gender Perspective of the Dutch National Action Plan for Employment 2001 Janneke Plantenga
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The gender perspective of the Dutch National Action Plan for Employment 2001
External report commissioned by and presented to the European commission
Janneke Plantenga
May 2001
Institute of Economics Kromme Nieuwegracht 22 3512 HH Utrecht The Netherlands
Contents Executive summary Introduction
1
1. The employment context, the employment targets and the gender equality deficit
2
2. Summary of the development of gender equality / gender mainstreaming
7
within the NAPS 1998-2001 2.1 The developments of gender equality / gender mainstreaming within the NAP’s
7
1998-2001 2.2. Summary table. Evaluation of the National Action Plan 2001; policy measures
9
with relevance to gender equality 2.3 Responses to the council recommendations 3. Gender mainstreaming and the horizontal objectives
11 11
3.1. Response to the horizontal objectives A, B and C
11
3.2 Response to the horizontal objectives D and E
13
4. Gender mainstreaming and gender monitoring and evaluation
14
4.1 Gender mainstreaming, including evaluation and gender targets
14
4.2 Employability
15
4.3 Entrepreneurship
17
4.4 Adaptability
18
5. Gender equality measures
19
6. Future prospects and priorities
22
References
25
Executive summary The employment context and the gender equality deficit During the period under study, labour market participation of women has increased strongly, partly under the influence of favourable economic conditions. At the same time the actual changes in the division of paid and unpaid work are rather disappointing and seem to refer especially to the group of highly educated and autochthonous women. Among lower educated and allochthonous women the changes are considerably less. Another point of concern is that Dutch society is rather quickly transforming not in a dual, but into a one-and–a-half–earner society. Given the half income of women, the growing labour market participation has not yet resulted into a large redistribution of male and female income. Summary of the development of gender equality /gender mainstreaming within the NAPS 1998-2001 There is hardly any progress made with regard to the development of gender equality / gender mainstreaming. As in the former NAP’s, the fourth pillar remains somewhat isolated in the sense that (proposed) policies are not really integrated with the ‘more general’ agenda of the first three pillars. The fourth pillar is also heavily biased towards women and their problems of entering the labour market, the reconciliation of work and family etc. There is no recognition of the fact that this employment policy needs to be integrated into a broader agenda, involving a more articulate development of employment, family and welfare policy. The only mild exception to this general statement seems to be the 1999 NAP which at least tries to link the traditionally separated fields of employment policy and equal opportunities. Gender mainstreaming and the horizontal issues The Dutch NAP 2001 gives a rather broad perspective on the current socio-economic issues and policy measures. As in former NAPs, however, there is a clear emphasis on the first employability pillar. With regard to the development of common indicators, the NAP 2001 underlines the importance of targets and quantitative objectives. In this respect there is a clear compliance with the emphasis on targets in the 2001 guidelines. Gender mainstreaming is not a focal point in the Dutch NAP 2001. The more explicit summon in the guidelines of 2001 to reinforce consultative systems with gender equality bodies and to apply procedures for gender impact assessment remain unanswered. Issues which could have easily integrated within the first 3 pillars, like child care (employability an/or entrepreneurship) , working hours adjustment act, leave facilities (adaptability) are only mentioned under pillar 4, whereas
policy issues with a clear gender dimension (like lifelong learning, increasing the participation of elderly persons etc) are only referred to in general terms. Gender mainstreaming, gender monitoring and evaluation As stated above, gender mainstreaming is not a focal point in the Dutch NAP 2001. In general it is recognized that women face particular problems in gaining access to employment and in reconciling paid and unpaid work. This is seen as a rather particular problem, however, and not addressed within the broader agenda of the rise of dual earner families, diversification of lifestyles and the ensuing effect on the organization of work and working times. The low profile of gender issues also means that there is little evidence of a systematic evaluating and monitoring of the gender equality impact of specific policy programs. Gender equality issues One of the biggest problems with regard to the gender equality measures in the Dutch NAP, is that there is no clear focus on the gender equality deficit which the national action plan should reduce. Differences in working times, occupational level, or economic independence are hardly mentioned let alone monitored and evaluated. The only explicit target in this respect is to increase the participation rate of women. The rationale behind this is not a genuine interest towards gender equality as such but has to do with the importance of a rising female employment rate in order to keep up a high overall employment rate. There is a less elaborated strategy towards men and there involvement in unpaid work, despite that fact that a target has been set to increase the share of men in unpaid work to 40% in 2010. Future prospects and priorities Given the cross cutting nature of ‘modern’ equality issues, the effectiveness of equal opportunities policy will be increased if this aspect is more explicitly taking into account. Too often Equal Opportunities policy is defined too narrowly, as only referring to child care and leave facilities. This narrow approach is likely to result in inconsistencies and disappointing outcomes. A cross-sector approach lies also at the very heart of the mainstreaming strategy. However, there is no clear progress made with regard to gender mainstreaming in the 2001 NAP. Despite the growing emphasis on an effective mainstreaming policy within the 2001 employment guidelines, policy initiatives are still mainly framed in general terms without any recognition of the gender issues involved. Big changes in this respect are not foreseen, although the high-level steering commission on mainstreaming (installed in spring 2001) might have some impact. Their recommendations are expected at mid 2001.
Title of measures (discontinued in brackets)
Comprehensive approach for young people and adults Special budget within comprehensive approach
National life long learning strategy
Date of measure New for 2001
2000 measure now implement ed
V
V
V
Earlier measure now yielding results
Gender impact taken into account in design
V
Gender monitoring/ Targets
V
Aims to close gender gap
Reason for relevance to gender equality
Summary table. Evaluation of the National Action Plan 2001; policy measures with relevance to gender equality
Employability pillar Measures for unemployed Measures for inactive/returners Tax and benefit policies Active ageing Lifelong learning Job matching/bottleneck s Discrimination/ social exclusion Entrepreneurship pillar Business start up Knowledge society Regional and local action Tax reforms for employment and training Adaptability pillar Working time Flexibility and security Lifelong learning
Should assist gender mainstream ing
Equal opportunities pillar Gender mainstreaming Employment and unemployment gaps Desegregation/ positive action Pay Leave arrangements Family friendly policies Care provision
‘Glass ceiling’
Lifetime approach v
v
V
V
?
?
V
V
V
V
?
v
V
V
v
v
Combining different arrangements; introduction of fiscal deduction for employers offering partly wage-payment during parental leave
Child care
Introduction The objective of this report is to assess the gender perspective of the Dutch National Action Plan 2001. In order to provide some background information the first chapter focuses on the employment context and the gender equality deficit. The second chapter contains a summary overview of the developments on gender equality and mainstreaming within the NAPS 1998-2001, whereas chapters 3 to 5 address in more detail the gender mainstreaming and gender equality measures within the NAP 2001. Chapter 6 turns to priority areas for future action. The report is the Dutch contribution of a European study of the gender perspective in the National Action Plans, carried out by the member of the EU-network on Gender and Employment, under the auspices of the Equal Opportunities Unit.
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1. The employment context, the employment targets and the gender equality deficit Participation unevenly spread From a European perspective the economic situation of the Netherlands is quite positive. The economic growth is above average and so is the employment growth. Unemployment is less than 3 percent and is now at its lowest level since the late 1970s. Indeed, the prosperous economic situation has created tensions in the Dutch labour market, translating into higher wages and prices. Although the wage increase may have led to a deterioration of the Dutch competitive position, it is expected that a high labour productivity may (partly) counter balance the rise of unit labour costs. Despite the favourable economic climate, participation is unevenly spread. Especially the rate of participation among women, low educated, ethnic minorities and older people is below average. Table 1.1 contains some details in this respect. Lisbon targets Improving the participation rate is an important policy goal of the Dutch government and of the European Employment Strategy. An important milestone in this respect is the agreement on quantitative targets at the Lisbon summit in March 2000. The employment rate in the EU should be raised from an average of 61% today, to as close as possible to 70% by 2010, and the percentage of women in employment should increase from 51% now to more than 60% in 2010. In Stockholm the EU political leaders agreed upon intermediate targets (67% total and 57% for women) and an employment rate target for elderly; to increase the participation of older women and men (55-65) to 50% in 2010. According to the NAP 2001, the national policy is even more ambitious (NAP 2001: 8). -
the Netherlands want to increase the labour force participation still further to take it into the leading group within the EU
-
increase female labour force participation rate to 65% by 2010
-
increase labour force participation rate of older people by ¾% per annum
Confronting the targets with the actual numbers, it appears that the (gross) participation rate of women – despite the large increase in recent years – is still on average 6 per cent point lower that the agreed level of 60% in 2010. In particular the participation rate among less educated women is low; 25% against 86% for the most highly educated group. Among men, the distance between low and highly educated is considerably smaller: 55 versus 93 percent. In addition, low participation rate among the (non western) ethnic minorities is reason for concern. 2
Table 1.1 Labour force participation rate men and women 1999 Men net 76
Total Age 25 15-19 year 67 20-24 year 90 25-29 year 93 30-34 year 92 35-39 year 92 40-44 year 89 45-49 year 87 50-54 year 65 55-59 year 21 60-64 year Education 52 Primary education 53 Lower general secondary education Junior vocational educ. 80 Senior general secondary educ./ 61 pre-university educ. Senior vocational educ. 86 Higher vocational educ. 83 University education 91 78 Native Dutch 65 Ethnic minorities groups 73 Western minorities groups 55 Not Western minorities groups Source: CBS, Labour force survey 1999
Men gross 79
Women net 51
Women gross 54
Total net 64
Total gross 67
28 70 93 95 94 94 92 89 67 22
21 62 76 66 59 60 57 44 28 6
25 66 79 70 63 65 60 46 29 6
23 64 83 80 76 76 73 66 47 14
27 68 86 83 79 80 76 68 48 14
55 55
22 36
25 39
36 43
40 46
82 65
37 48
41 51
58 54
61 58
87 85 93 80 70 76 64
63 71 82 52 44 51 35
66 74 86 55 49 55 41
75 77 88 66 54 62 45
77 80 90 68 59 65 53
Differences in working hours The differences in male and female participation rates become even larger when the fact is taken into account that the part-time rate is very high in the Netherlands, especially among women. In 1999 60% of the female active population had a job of 12-34 hours, compared with only 11 percent of the men. In the Lisbon agreement, a difference in working hours is not taken into account; the participation targets are set ‘in persons’, not in full time equivalents. Also the Dutch targets are set ‘in persons’. As a result no attention is paid to the fact that working times of men and women are very different. Indeed, within Europe, the Netherlands scores highest with regard to a simple working hours segregation index (Plantenga 1999). This is not to say that NAP remains completely silent about the high Dutch part-time rate. Section 1.2 mentions the fact that a large number of people, especially women, works part-time. In addition, the fact is mentioned that part-time seems to comply with overall preferences: despite the high part-time rate; the Netherlands scores lowest with regard to the percentage of involuntary parttime work within Europe. The unequal distribution of part-time employment between men and women is not questioned, however, nor is any remark made about the large difference between the Lisbon
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targets and the (female) participation rate in full time equivalents. As a result, one of the largest gender inequalities within the Dutch labour market remains underreported. This is symptomatic of the overall lack of interest in the gender aspects of the Dutch part-time economy. Key dimensions to gender inequality The Dutch part-time economy has attracted positive attention, especially with regard to the flexibility record. As a result of a creative policy of give and take, the Netherlands seem to have been quite successful in finding a reasonable mix of flexibility and security, of differentiation within a commonly excepted framework, of tailor made solutions within collective regulation. From an equal opportunities point of view, the Dutch part-time strategy may be more controversial, however. In principle part-time jobs may be valued positively as part-time jobs create opportunities for tailored working time patterns. Part-time jobs preclude the all-or-nothing option on the labour market and open up opportunities for a less strict division of labour and care. However, these benefits are not without costs. Quite often part-time jobs are less fully integrated than full-time jobs in the employment hierarchy. Although many changes have occurred in the last 10 years, parttime jobs are still concentrated at the lower skill levels (Baaijens 1999). Part-time work remains difficult at higher level jobs, and in general, hurts chances of promotion. The discontinuous availability and accessibility are deemed most problematic for top level positions. Quality problems may be particular large among part-time jobs with less than 12 hours a week. Recent research indicates that - despite the legal right to equal treatment - some CLA's exclude part-time jobs with less than 12 hours per week, while other CLA's differentiate by working hours (Arbeidsinspectie 1999). A more serious problem than the quality of part-time jobs is, however, the over-representation of women. Although part-time work is promoted as a very general strategy, in principle it appears that part-time jobs are held overwhelmingly by women. Men have hardly changed their labour market behaviour and still work (to a large extent) full-time. Seen from this perspective it seems that part-time work facilitates the combination of paid and unpaid work, but remains a compromise strategy for women only, with the effect that the implicit social contract between men and women is only partly reconsidered. Or, in the words of the sociologist Visser: ‘Part-time work does not guarantee financial independence, yet it increases independence. No equal sharing of paid and unpaid work, yet a less biased division, no equal career opportunities and no equal returns on education, yet a diminishing disadvantage of women’ (1999: 355). In short: part-time work has played an important role in the restructuring of the Dutch economy and the increase in the labour market participation. At the same time it can be concluded that this increase has taken place in a very gender specific manner. As a result, the unequal position of men and women on the labour market has only partly been changed. 4
Trends in employment and gender equality In reference to the future of the Dutch part-time economy the key question is: Is this a viable model, or only a transitional phase on the road to equal status for both sexes in the terms of paid employment. The NAP seems to suggest that there is a process of convergence. At least it is stated that ‘the upward trend (with regard to part-time work- JP) has levelled off as a result of labour shortages’. In addition it is stated that ‘the average length of a women’s working week is expected to increase still further in the next few years’ (NAP 2001: 6/7). The empirical underpinning of these statements is rather weak, however. Table 1.2 shows the share of women among full-timers: obviously the gender gap in this respect is not closing. A closing of the working hours gap might also result from the fact that the average hours of part-time jobs are increasing. The second column of table 1.2 seems to indicate that this is indeed the case. Especially during the first half of the 1980’s working hours of a full-time job have decreased, whereas that of a part-time job have increased. Yet the changes are relatively modest, especially with regard to the female part-time jobs (data for recent years are not (yet) available). Both indicators (share of women in full-time jobs; number of hours of full-time/ part-time jobs) seems to suggest that the one-and-a-half-earner-model has become firmly established into Dutch society and there are no reasons to expect that this will change very rapidly. Table 1.2 Trends in working hours, men and women Percentage full-time jobs occupied by female employees Women Year Full-time 1980 20,5 1981 20,7 1982 20,7 1983 20,4 1984 20,3 1985 20,4 1986 20,3 1987 20 1988 20 1989 20,3 1990 20,5 1991 20,6 1992 20,8 1993 20,7 1994 20,4 1995 20 1996 19,7 1997 19,1 1998 19,2 1999 19,4 Source: CBS, Labour Accounts
Trends in working hours of full-time and part-time jobs, men and women (1980=100) Men Women Full-time Part-time Full-time Part-time 100 100 100 100 99,7 100,1 99,7 99,4 99,4 101 99,5 98,8 98,5 103,9 98,5 99,3 97,6 106 97,6 99,5 96,1 106 96,6 99,2 95,4 106 95,4 99,4 94,9 105,9 95,1 100,2 94,7 107,3 95,1 100,6 94,5 105,9 94,9 100,9 94,6 106,6 94,9 101,7 94,6 108,7 94,8 102,4 94,6 109,7 94,7 103,4 94,6 110 94,7 104 94,6 109,3 94,6 103,5 94,7 113,3 94,7 104,8 94,5 112,5 94,5 104,4
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The high gender segregation in working hours might also explain the relatively stable wage gap between men and women – despite the increasing participation rate among women. Table 1.3 indicates that the gross hourly wages of women differs between 73 and 77 percent of the gross hourly wages of men. These figures are complemented with figures on average personal income. These data refer to the average income of all women (active and inactive). As can be read from the table, the personal income of women has risen from 13.5 thousand in 1990 to 20.7 thousand in 1999. This increase is mainly the result of the increase in participation rate. In the years between 1990-1999 the number of women with an own income increased from 4.425 million to 5.275 million, a growth rate of almost 20 percent. Yet, the data of table 1.3 also indicate that the average personal income of men is still more than twice as large as the average personal income of women. Table 1.3 Pay differentials between men and women Gross hourly wages (employees only) Average personal income (x ƒ 1000) Men Women Relative Men Women Relative female female income wage 1990 26,25 19,13 72,9 35,5 13,5 38 1991 27,42 20,09 76,2 37,0 14,7 39,7 1992 28,72 21,06 73,3 38,5 15,7 40,8 1993 29,72 21,95 73,8 38,7 16,2 41,9 1994 30,34 22,64 74,6 39,3 16,7 42,5 1995 30,87 22,90 74,2 40,4 17,2 42,6 1996 31,75 23,43 73,8 41,0 18,0 43,9 1997 32,65 24,07 73,7 42,2 18,9 44,8 1998 34,73 26,87 77,4 42,8 19,4 45,3 1999* 35,97 27,86 77,4 44,7 20,7 46,3 * provisional data Source: CBS, Income Statistics; Labour Accounts 1996-1997
Summarising the current state of affairs, it can be concluded that during the period under study, labour market participation of women has increased strongly. The number of jobs rose substantially partly under the influence of favourable economic conditions. A development that was taken advantage of by women especially. At the same time the actual changes in the division of paid and unpaid work are rather disappointing and seem to refer especially to the group of highly educated and autochthonous women. Among lower educated and allochthonous women the changes are considerably less. Another point of concern is that Dutch society is rather quickly transforming not in a dual earner society but into a one-and–a-half–earner society. Given the half income of women, the growing labour market participation has not yet resulted into a large redistribution of male and female income.
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2. Summary of the development of gender equality / gender mainstreaming within the NAPS 1998-2001 2.1 The developments of gender equality / gender mainstreaming within the NAP’s 1998-2001 The establishment of institutional mechanisms for mainstreaming During the last years, there has been a growing interest in the issue of mainstreaming. It is generally acknowledged that ‘equality should move out of the annex into the main building’. In fact, the Netherlands are quite familiar with the concept of mainstreaming as this can be seen as a further elaboration of the strategy of ‘facet policy’ developed since the 1970’s (Verloo 2000:7). Yet a systematic and comprehensive policy in this respect is lacking. There are no (obligatory) procedures to ensure that policy is gender proof, nor is there any systematic monitoring of policy in terms of gender impact. This also indicates that there is no clear organisation of responsibilities. Departments, agencies and/or local authorities might for example use an instrument like the GIA for implementing mainstreaming, but is a rather non-systematic way. In 2001 a high level steering commission on mainstreaming has been installed, with the main aim to improve procedures around gender mainstreaming. Their recommendations are expected at mid 2001. The development of gender evaluation or monitoring of policies and the setting of gender targets In general there is a growing emphasis on ‘evidence led’ social policy. This means that reports on progress made have become rather common elements of the policy process. Quite often progress report are made by external offices, not actually involved in the decision making process. Depending of the subject information might be gathered on the way policies affect the relative position of men / women / ethnic minorities etc. Yet, an explicit gender evaluation or monitoring of policies is still quite rare. A gender impact assessment might be agreed upon, but on a rather ad hoc basis (Plantenga 2000a). Targets are also becoming are more usual part of (employment) policy. After Lisbon, the 2000 NAP mentions the participation targets with approval. In the 2001 NAP the emphasis on targets is fairly strong. Unfortunately, targets are not systematically broken down by gender. Attention paid to gender issues within the first three pillars Throughout the period 1998-2001, the attention paid to gender issues within the first three pillars is limited. The only exception to this statement is the 1999 NAP, which includes brief sketches of the gender perspective, as a kind of annex to the texts under the different pillars. After the presentation of the 1999 NAP, this specific presentation of ‘gender mainstreaming’ raised some discussion (for
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example in parliament), as the exact status of the boxes and the relation with the main text was rather unclear. Apparently, in later years, the decision was made not to run any risks in the respect, as the 2000 and 2001 NAP are written largely in a gender neutral language.
The development of equality measures included in pillar 4. In all Nap’s , the fourth pillar remains somewhat isolated in the sense that (proposed) policies are not really integrated with the ‘more general’ agenda of the first three pillars. The fourth pillar is also heavily biased towards women and their problems of entering the labour market, the reconciliation of work and family etc. This implies that the forth pillar is largely about increasing the participation rate of women. There is no recognition of the fact that this employment policy needs to be integrated into a broader agenda, involving a more articulate development of employment, family and welfare policy. The only mild exception to this general statement seems to be the 1999 NAP which at least tries to link the traditionally separated fields of employment policy and equal opportunities.
Institutional mechanisms for gender mainstreaming Gender evaluation or monitoring of policies/ setting of gender targets Attention to gender issues in first three pillars Development of equal opportunities pillar
1998 -
1999 -
2000 -
Limited
Limited
Introduction of Lisbon targets
Limited
Gender issues introduced as annex to the main text Efforts made towards a more integrated approach
Limited
2001 High level Steering commission on mainstreaming Lisbon targets, complemented with national targets Limited
Rather detached approach
Rather detached approach
Rather detached approach
8
Employability pillar Measures for unemployed Measures for inactive/returners Tax and benefit policies Active ageing Lifelong learning Job matching/bottleneck s Discrimination/ social exclusion Entrepreneurship pillar Business start up Knowledge society Regional and local action Tax reforms for employment and training Adaptability pillar Working time Flexibility and security Lifelong learning
Date of measure New for 2001
2000 measure now implement ed
V
V
V
Earlier measure now yielding results
Gender impact taken into account in design
V
Gender monitoring/ targets
V
Aims to close gender gap
Reason for relevance to gender equality
2.2. Summary table. Evaluation of the National Action Plan 2001; policy measures with relevance to gender equality
Title of measures (discontinued in brackets)
Comprehensive approach for young people and adults Special budget within comprehensive approach
National life long learning strategy
9
Should assist gender mainstream ing
Equal opportunities pillar Gender mainstreaming Employment and unemployment gaps Desegregation/ positive action Pay Leave arrangements Family friendly policies Care provision
‘Glass ceiling’
Lifetime approach V
V
V
V
?
?
V
V
V
V
?
v
V
V
V
v
Combining different arrangements; introduction of fiscal deduction for employers offering partly wage-payment during parental leave
Child care
10
2.3 Responses to the council recommendations Country specific recommendation refer to two aspects: 1. increasing incentives in social security systems and 2. upgrading the comprehensive approach monitoring system Both aspect are covered under section 2.2 of the NAP. The responses seem adequate, although this is clearly ‘work in progress’. The spirit of the first recommendations (increasing incentives in social security system) is also very much alive in the overall focus of the NAP. For example, the text under the first pillar, emphasis the importance of a social and labour market policy based more on activation (page 13: “modern social security systems … should offer incentives to prompt people to take up work”). Specific gender issues are not covered under this heading.
3. Gender mainstreaming and the horizontal objectives In the employment guidelines for 2001 horizontal objectives are integrated, in order to structure policies and to achieve a more coherent overall strategy. The horizontal objectives are the following: A. Full employment/ Lisbon employment targets B. Lifelong Learning C. Partnership with social partners D. Integrated policy mix (including gender mainstreaming) E. Development of common indicators. 3.1. Response to the horizontal objectives A, B and C Throughout the NAP there is a strong emphasis on increasing the participation rate, taking into account the Lisbon targets. Especially in the first section of the NAP, and the text under the first pillar (employability) are heavily inspired by the necessity of achieving the Lisbon objectives. As mentioned before, the Dutch ambitions reach even further. Given the fact that the participation rate of women is still low compared to men, a target is set to increase the female
11
participation rate to 65% in 2010. Also an explicit target for elderly people is formulated: an increase of the labour force participation of ¾ % per annum. In order to achieve these objectives, the policy mix includes elements from different pillars, ranging from making the tax system more employment friendly, to investment in training and vocational education and promoting of the labour market participation of specific groups. Especially the lifelong learning strategy is taken shape in close cooperation with the social partners. A vocational education and training steering group has been formed for this purpose, made up of representatives from the government, the social partners and educational establishments (NAP 2001: 10). The objective of life long learning creates an opening for a life time approach. Especially the emphasis on post initial training and the targets set for adult education, make clear that in the future employees are supposed to combine work and learning over their life time. Lives of ordinary men and women will become less linear, and will be more oriented towards combining work and education during the life time. This perspective, however, is not fully elaborated. Especially the care element is ignored, implying a rather ‘male’ perspective towards the labour market. True: some references towards a more integrated perspective are made. For example it is stated that government policy aims ‘to modernise labour relations by seeking more diverse combinations of work, learning, family responsibilities and leisure time’ (NAP 2001: 9). Yet, under the first employability pillar, the focus is primarily on employability and learning. As a result, some policy issues are clearly biased. For example, under guideline 3 ‘policy for active ageing’, several initiatives are proposed to increase the participation rate of elderly persons, like abolishing favourable tax treatment of voluntary early retirement schemes and/or changing the (financial) incentive structure with regard to unemployed elderly persons. In general, the focus is very much on trying to prevent employees from leaving the labour market before the age of retirement. There is considerable less emphasis on making it more easy to enter the labour market after a period of full–time care. Yet, the low participation of elderly persons, refers in particular to women. As table 1.1 makes clear, the (gross) participation rate of women aged 55-60 is only 29% compared to 67% for elderly men. Applying a life time approach in which several dimension of human lives are incorporated might have resulted in a more coherent policy proposal.
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At a more practical level, the gender dimension with regard to the national strategy for lifelong learning remains underdeveloped. The aim is to increase the proportion of the adult population which is taking part in some form of adult or other education, in order to approximate the performance of the top two member states. No explicit target is set for men and women, nor are there any details given about the actual involvement of men and women with regard to post initial training. Research by Groot (1994) seems to indicate that there is reason for a gender aware policy in this respect. His data indicate that women have a 40% less change of being employed by an employer who invest in the employability of their employees. In addition, even if women are employed by an ‘active’ employer in this respect, they have a 40% less change of being actual involved in company specific training. Although these data refer to the first part of the 1990’s there is no reason to believe that this overrepresentation of men has changed recently. 3.2 Response to the horizontal objectives D and E The Dutch NAP 2001 gives a rather broad perspective on the current socio-economic issues and policy measures. As in former NAPs, however, there is a clear emphasis on the first employability pillar. The implicit measure seems to be that this ‘covers it all’. The measures mentioned under the second pillar for example, do not seem very focussed. The ‘major cities policy’, ‘regional platforms within SUWI’ and ‘privatization of reintegration market’ seem only indirectly related to the issues of exploiting new opportunities for job creation (guidelines 10/11). Within the Dutch context, given the typical Dutch emphasis on balancing flexibility and security, especially the text under pillar 3 seems underdeveloped. There is no life time perspective here, nor is there any reference made towards the unique Dutch working time regime. Quite surprisingly, the Working Hours Adjustment Act is only mentioned under pillar 4, whereas this policy measure seems perfectly in line with the overall sprit of pillar 3, emphasizing (among others) new forms of work, annualized working hours, part-time working arrangements and access to career breaks. Gender mainstreaming is not a focal point in the Dutch NAP 2001. The more explicit summon in the guidelines of 2001 to reinforce consultative systems with gender equality bodies and to apply procedures for gender impact assessment remain unanswered. Issues which could have easily integrated within the first 3 pillars, like child care (employability an/or entrepreneurship) , 13
working hours adjustment act, leave facilities (adaptability) are only mentioned under pillar 4, whereas policy issues with a clear gender dimension (like lifelong learning, increasing the participation of elderly persons etc) are only referred to in general terms (see also section 4 and 5 of this report). With regard to the development of common indicators, the NAP 2001 underlines the importance of targets and quantitative objectives. In this respect there is a clear compliance with the emphasis on targets in the 2001 guidelines. For example in 1.3 (policy challenges and objectives) the government has set specific objectives in accordance with European agreements. In section 1.6 it is stated that the proportion of the population which is taking part in education should be ‘increased in order to approximate the performance of the top two Member states’. On pages 16 it is stated with regard to young people dropping out of school that measures are designed to the achieve the Lisbon objective which is to halve the number of early school-leavers by 2001. On page 20 the target is formulated to reduce the administrative burden of entrepreneurs by 15%. Footnote 10 on page 26 mentions a target on the proportion of men in unpaid employment which must rise to 40% by 2010. Unfortunately, the targets are not systematically broken down by gender.
4. Gender mainstreaming and gender monitoring and evaluation 4.1 Gender mainstreaming, including evaluation and gender targets As stated before, gender mainstreaming is not a focal point in the Dutch NAP 2001. In general it is recognized that women face particular problems in gaining access to employment and in recognizing paid and unpaid work. This is seen as a rather particular problem, however, and not addressed within the broader agenda of the rise of dual earner families, diversification of lifestyles and the ensuing effect on the organization of work and working times. In this respect, the 2001 NAP, just as the 2000 NAP, illustrates the traditional approach in which there is a clear division between employment policy on the one hand and equal opportunities policy on the other. There does not seem to be any awareness of the complex interaction between employment policies, social developments and welfare change.
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The low profile of gender issues also means that there is little evidence of a systematic evaluating and monitoring of the gender equality impact of specific policy programs. For example, under the adaptability heading new result are mentioned with regard to the Flexibility and Security Act (NAP 2001: 24). This Act in particular regulates the position of flex workers, like workers on call, stand by employees, temporary workers, temps etc. Given the fact that women are over represented among the flexible labour force, a gender assessment of the Act seems in place (cf. Plantenga 2000b:25 e.v.) Unfortunately, the NAP only gives figures about the general effects, indicating that the positive effects were significantly greater than the negative effects. There is no information about the gender division of these positive and negative effects. A second example refers to the reintegration of disabled people (NAP 2001: 18/19). Again the policy issues are stated in general terms, without any reference to the fact that the net increase in the total number of disabled people is totally accounted for by the increase of women. In 1999 the number of disabled women increased with 18.200 whereas the number of men decreased with 2.900. As a result the share of women among disabled has increased from 51% in 1997 to 54% in 1999 (SZW 2000a). During that same period the share of women in the labour force increased from 38.5% to 39.5%. In other words: the change of women becoming disabled is more than 50% higher as the changes of men becoming disabled. The NAP remains completely silent about the gender dimension of the Disability Act. 4.2 Employability Obviously this pillar is very important within the overall structure of the NAP. The text under this pillar covers 8.5 pages which is the same as the text of the following three pillars taken together. Policy issues can be grouped under several headings. Measures for unemployed. A comprehensive approach for young people has been implemented since 1998. In addition, the comprehensive approach for adults will be further intensified in 2001. In practice, this comprehensive approach refers to a complex process in which also municipalities, social security agencies and the Employment Service are involved. A first evaluation indicates that the approach has not been a complete success, partly because of the current reorganisation process at the
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Employment Service. From a gender point of view a close monitoring of the approach seems indispensable, not only with regard to the fact whether a integration program is indeed offered to all eligible men and women. but also with respect the subsequent labour market activity. Within the context of the comprehensive approach there is an earmarked budget for unemployed not receiving any benefit. This covers for example women returners. Participation is voluntary; they are free to refuse an offer. Measure for inactive/returners Despite the growing participation rate, there is still a large number of women not actively involved at the labour market. On the basis of the labour force survey 1999, the number can be estimated at 520.000, which corresponds to 20% of all inactive women. A substantial minority (172.000) indicates that they are available at the labour market within two weeks. The remaining part (348.000) is not directly available, but is looking for a job after a certain period. Current policy is not very focused on this potential. There is a heavy emphasis on general policy, for example within context of the comprehensive approach. In addition the policy aiming to improve the combination of work and care, and the tax reform is supposed to create more incentives (less difficulties) for women to return to the labour market. In addition, some specific projects are set up, like the project ‘re-entering care’ or ‘re-entering teaching’. The NAP follows the rather austere attitude towards women returners by not mentioning any special policies in this respect under the text of the first pillar. Tax and benefit policies On 1 January 2001, the new Income Tax Act came into force. As a result, the marginal tax rates are lowered right across the board. The emphasis on increasing the participation rate is also obvious from the introduction of an employment rebate which has been introduced for al employed and self employed persons. This creates an incentive to seek and take up work, especially at the lower income levels. From a gender perspective an extremely important element of the new Act is the individualized structure. The former tax system contained breadwinner perks like the transferable tax free allowance. In the new tax system the transferable tax free allowance is replaced by the leave rebate. Because the rebate is independent of the incremental tax rate, non-working partners
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will find it more attractive to seek paid employment under the new than under the old system (Dierx e.a. 1999). Rather illustrative of the lack of gender perspective and/or gender mainstreaming in the Dutch NAP, this aspect is not mentioned under the text of the first pillar. Active ageing The participation rate among elderly people is rather low – also from a comparative point of view. In order to improve the participation rate, government suggest rather far reaching policies, including abolishing early retirement schemes, the re-introduction of the obligation for people over the age of 57,5 to apply for a job, to ensure pension right after demotion and a fiscal policy targeted at employers who for taking on elderly employees. As stated above the policy proposals are very focussed on trying to prevent employees from leaving the labour market before the age of retirement. There is considerable less emphasis on making it more easy to enter the labour market after a period of full–time care. As a result, the policy proposals are clearly biased towards male labour market behaviour. Job matching / bottlenecks In section 1.2, at a fairly general level, the mismatch of available reserve and vacancies is mentioned. The data are broken down by educational level, indicating that matching problems occur at almost all levels. No information is given about the ‘mismatch’ by sector. At this moment, especially the educational sector and the care sector (hospitals, home work etc) experience severe problems with filling in vacancies. At the medium term, severe shortages are expected among nursing and caring personnel. A recent study estimates the shortages at 34.000 in 2003 (TK 1999-2000: B7). This problems are caused by a growing demand on the one hand and a declining supply on the other, especially because of image problems of the care sector (high work pressure, relatively modest wages). Given the fact that the share of women among nursing, caring and teaching personnel is far above average, these shortages refers in particular to women. 4.3 Entrepreneurship The section on entrepreneurship has a clear emphasis on ‘structural’ policies favouring the development of new businesses. A first example is the aim of achieving a 15% reduction in the
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overall administrative burden. A second example is the MDW-project (Market Forces, Deregulation and Legislative Quality project), aiming to removing obstacles to admission. In general, the policies are oriented towards enhancing a more competitive economic environment, by reducing obstacles to start up businesses, increasing the transparency of markets, and generating information to (potential) new starters. More specific policies refer to the major cities policy, regional covenants and regional platforms within SUWI (Work and Income Implementation Structure). The linkage with ‘entrepreneurship and job creation’ is less clear in these cases. Rather these examples seem to be introduced given their regional dimension and the emphasis of guideline 11 on improving the functioning of local labour markets. Hardly any reference is made to gender under this specific pillar. In the NAP 2000, it was mentioned that special attention will be devoted to encouraging entrepreneurship among women and ethic minorities. (In 1999, 31 percent of new businesses were started by women). This reference to ‘special attention’ has disappeared in the NAP 2001. Gender only comes in by referring to undeclared work. In order to improve the market for personal services, the government introduced regulations for cleaning services in 1998. The subsidy scheme is oriented towards employers for taking on long-term unemployed and the vast majority of the people who take part in this scheme are native Dutch women – often returners. There is no perspective on including this topic within the broader topic of increasing the market for (personal) services as a logical by-product of (the striving towards) a new (more equal) division of paid and unpaid work. Gender is conspicuously absent in the description of the SPAK arrangement (NAP 2001: 23). The SPAK is a tax rebate for employers who take on low paid workers, covering circa 20% of all employees. Given the fact that women are over-represented at the lower end of the labour market, this policy might benefit especially women. There are however no figures available broken down by gender. 4.4 Adaptability As in last years NAP, the text under this pillar is fairly short. Despite the fact that the Dutch Polder model has attracted a lot of positive attention from abroad in particular because of it’s flexibility record, no effort is made to phrase the particularities of this polder model into the guidelines of this pillar. As a result, the Working Hours Adjustment Act is not mentioned under
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pillar 3, but only under pillar 4. Given the fact that this Act favours flexible working arrangements, this seems a clear mistake. In fact, a mainstreaming approach would have suggested that quite of number of issues now covered under pillar 4 (life time approach, combining leave regulations, daily routine incentive scheme) should have been introduced under pillar 3, as these issues refer directly to the main topic of this pillar: modernising work organisation. The clear lack of any gender perspective is also obvious from the statements made with regard to the labour contract in the context of the Flexibilty and Security Act. As stated under par. 4.1, this Act in particular regulates the position of flex workers, like workers on call, stand by employees, temporary workers, temps etc. Given the fact that women are over represented among the flexible labour force, a gender assessment of the Act seems in place. Unfortunately, the NAP only gives figures about the general effects; there is no information about the gender division of these positive and negative effects.
5. Gender equality measures General assessment One of the biggest problems with regard to the gender equality measures in the Dutch NAP, is that there is no clear focus on the gender equality deficit which the national action plan should reduce. Differences in working times, occupational level, or economic independence are hardly mentioned let alone monitored and evaluated. The only explicit target in this respect is to increase the participation rate of women. The rationale behind this is not a genuine interest towards gender equality as such but has to do with the importance of a rising female employment rate in order to keep up a high overall employment rate. In this respect there seems to be a loss of focus from 1999 to 2001. In the 1999 NAP it is stated that in Dutch policy the combination scenario (focussing on an equal distribution of paid and unpaid work –JP) is used as ‘a guide to mainstream equal opportunities goals in general social economic policy’. In the 2000 NP this ‘guidance ‘ is disappeared, although it is still stated that ‘women need to be encouraged to participate in the labour market and men need to be encouraged to take on more family responsibilities’. In the 2001 NAP the fact that men need to take on more family responsibilities is promoted to a footnote; the opening statement just refers to the target of increasing the female participation rate. The footnote seems to suggest that the involvement of men should be seen as a 19
by-product, not something to be mentioned in the main text. Yet, the policy aim is rather concrete is this respect, as a target has been set to increase the share of men in unpaid work to 40% in 2010. This is a quite an ambitious target, especially as it is well known that the division of unpaid work is rather policy resistent. At the same time – this is exactly the problem and it is not clear which policy will be developed in this respect. Nor is there anything clear about the possible sanctions if - unfortunately - the actual share will be less than 40% in 2001. There is also no explicit policy with regard to men and part-time work. On the contrary: given the tight labour market, there is a growing emphasis on extending the average working week. A telling example in his respect is the increase in the collectively agreed full time working week of police men from 36 to 38 hours a week, earlier this year .There is also no explicit policy with regard to men and the take up of leave. Parental leave is still unpaid and it is well known that this creates a barrier to it’s use, in particular among men (and in low income households). With this in mind, the cabinet has proposed a fiscal deduction for employers in order to create an incentive to include agreements of (partial) wage payment during parental leave in CLA’s. This is a very indirect instrument, however, and the effects are still unclear. New topic’s in the NAP 2001: lifetime approach, glass ceiling and women returners. Quite apart from the limited perspective, no new concrete measures are proposed under this pillar; to a large extent the text refers to progress of present policy. Three topics have gained a more prominent place in the NAP, 2001, however: the life time approach, the class ceiling and the women returners . The lifetime approach is introduced, given the expectation that the lives of ordinary people will become less linear and will be more oriented towards changing combinations of work care, leisure and education. The initiative to carry out a full survey to examine the significance of this development in the areas of social security and work, education, healthcare and housing is extremely important and should be welcomed. Yet from a mainstreaming point of view, this issue should have been mentioned under guideline 13, focussing on modernizing work organizations. Indeed, the lifetime approach is not a classic gender equality issue but involves a broad agenda, aiming to combine different developments within the context of employment, family patters and welfare change.
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With regard to the glass ceiling it is stated that policy will be given an extra boost in 2001. The exact initiatives remain rather vague, however, and refer to encouraging and facilitating initiatives through subsidies for expert organisations, further benchmarking, instrument development and networking. When it comes to target setting, a reference is made to the performance indicators identified by the long range policy document on equal opportunities. Also in that document, however, the class ceiling is introduced as a complicated issue from a policy point of view, given the limited scope for concrete measures (SZW 2000b). As a result, the approach is again structured in terms of ‘encouraging’ and ‘facilitating’. Also the policy with regard to women returners is more focused on ‘encouragement’ than concrete measures. At this moment an action plan for women returners is being drawn up. Information from the ministry seems to indicate that there is a heavy reliance on general policy (see also par. 4.2 of this report). The most concrete suggestion in the NAP under this heading is to conduct an information campaign. Classic issues: leave facilities and child care Concrete measure are mentioned especially under Guideline 18, regarding reconciling work and family life. Here policy measures are described with regard to leave facilities and childcare. Under the Work and Care Act, existing leave facilities will be streamlined. In addition (and not mentioned in the NAP, a entitlement will be introduced to short-term (up to ten days a year) paid care leave. After intervention of parliament, these 10 days may also be used for the caring of parents (in addition to children and partners). Payment is set at 70% of the wage; the employer will be compensated by 50% of the cost by lowering the average tax burden. As a result, government, the employer and the employee all carry approximately one third of the overall costs. It is expected that the Act will be enforced in 2002. Another extremely important initiative is to increase the number of childcare facilities (including out-of-school-care). The aim is to create 71.000 childcare places for children in the 012 age category in the period up to the end of 2002 on top of the existing 89.000 places. This means an increase of about 80% in four years, which is quite substantial. Progress reports indicate that the actual increase is above schedule. In addition, the financial structure with regard to child care is about to change within the context of the Child Care Basic Provision Act (to be enforced in 2003). Due the introduction of a demand driven financial structure, the aim is to
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make child care more accessible to parents and to introduced a ‘near market’ for suppliers. At this moment, the technicalities of the payment structure are still unknown. Given the large changes, the development of a child care monitor seems absolutely indispensable.
6. Future prospects and priorities Analysing the NAP form a gender perspective, the most obvious omission is a clear view on the gender equality deficit. There is a clear (and genuine) emphasis on the importance of an increasing female participation rate and several measures are included in order to make it easier to combine work and caring responsibilities, Yet this quantitative target is not set within the context of broader agenda, involving a more articulate development of employment, family and welfare policy. In this respect, the rise of the one-and-a-half earner model does not seem to raise any questions about possible drawbacks from an equality point of view. More likely, this oneand-a-half earner model is seen as the perfect solution for both promoting employment and gender equality. The possibility to work part-time makes it easier to integrate women in the labour market, whereas the specific labour market behavour of women at the same time generates a large part of the flexibility of the Dutch employment model. As stated in the gender assessment of the NAP 2000 (Plantenga 2000a) , the low priority attached to gender equality and gender mainstreaming is partly ‘explained’ by a certain satisfaction with achieved results. There appears to be a certain consensus on the fact that society has already been changed thoroughly. The traditional division of labour with its obvious distinction between breadwinners and care- takers has already been transformed into a diverse range of working time and lifestyle options. In addition, there is an unclear division of responsibilities. Given the neoliberal spirit of the times and matching view of people, there is certain reluctance towards strong government intervention. This liberal spirit somehow connects with the Dutch tradition on subsidiary and the emphasis put on private solutions, negotiated by social partners and/or individuals. As a result, policy initiatives sometimes translate into non-transparent and/or indirict solutions, which may not be in the best interest of the persons involved. A third ingredient explaining the low profile of equality and mainstreaming is no doubt the fact that equality has left the domain of easy solutions. Equal opportunities policy no longer concerns issues like an equal access to the labour market of equal access to education. Equal opportunity policy has become more
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complicated and faces the tenacity of old structures. The equality issue also implies crossdepartmental co-operation that is, in the given structures, a very complicated procedure. Institutional structure When it comes to formulating priorities, is should firstly taken into account that the Dutch national machinery of equal opportunities is rather limited. Especially the demise of the Equal Opportunites Board (ER) appears to be a great loss in terms of gender knowledge and expertise. The idea that this knowledge after the end of the ER could be mainstreamed and used as effectively (or even more effectively) within 'general' machinery has proven to be false. At this moment the Directorate Coordination Emancipation Policy is too weak to make any real impact. Also other parts of the national machinery (like E-Quality, Vrouwenalliantie) have neither the means nor the opportunities to raise a strong voice when it comes to socio-economic matters. Given the fact that policy makers in most cases have to be convinced (in terms of increase in effectiveness) in order to take gender issues on board, the week national structure is a real problem. Gender equality Given the cross cutting nature of modern equality issues, the effectiveness of equal opportunities policy will be increased if this aspect is more explicitly taking into account. Too often Equal Opportunities policy is defined too narrowly, as only referring to child care and leave facilities. This narrow approach is likely to result in inconsistencies and disappointing outcomes. The growing proportion of women among the claimants of an invalidity benefit, for example, raises concern about the organisation of work and care; the impact of the high Dutch labour productivity; the image of women and work; and the organisation of the system of social security. Clearly, this is an issue beyond the traditional boundaries of equal opportunities policy. The same arguments can be made with regard to the lifetime approach. Also in this case, traditional boundaries do not apply and an effort should be make to increase cross-departemental co-operation.. Gender mainstreaming A cross-sector approach lies also at the very heart of the mainstreaming strategy. However, there is no clear progress made with regard to gender mainstreaming in the 2001 NAP. Despite the growing emphasis on an effective mainstreaming policy within the 2001 employment guidelines, policy initiatives are still mainly framed in general terms without any recognition of the gender issues involved. This refers, for example, to the active ageing policy, the low profile given to women
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returners, and the almost complete absence of any gender reference under the pillars 2 and 3. In short: gender mainstreaming is not thought of as an important instrument in order to achieve the twin goals of promoting employment and gender equality. As a result, the NAP 2001 displays the classical gap between employment policy on the one hand (covered by the first three pillars) and equal opportunities policy (covered by the forth pillar) on the other. Big changes in this respect are not foreseen, although the high-level steering commission on mainstreaming (installed in spring 2001) might have some impact. Their recommendations are expected at mid 2001
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