Netherlands/ 4.2 Specific policy issues and recent debates  

4.2.10 Gender equality and cultural policies

Gender mainstreaming and specific policies

Since the "Women Top" in Beijing, in 1995, the Netherlands has chosen to anchor emancipation in governmental policies, a strategy which is called gender mainstreaming. Next to gender mainstreaming, it was acknowledged that specific policies were needed for special targeted groups of women and girls, to solve specific problems. The Ministry of Social Affairs was the coordinating ministry to pioneer gender mainstreaming. Since 2004, the main responsibility shifted to the individual departments.

Organisation

With the start of Cabinet Balkenende IV (early 2007), the coordination of the emancipation policy was transferred from the Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment to the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science. At the same time, the coordination of homo-emancipation policy was transferred from the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport (this policy aims at the emancipation and social acceptance of lesbian women, homosexual men, bi-sexual women and men, and transgender persons). The Department for Emancipation [Directie Emancipatie] is responsible for this policy. The director of this department also chairs the working group on Interdepartmental Coordination for Emancipation Policy [Interdepartmentale Coördinatie Emancipatiebeleid] which consists of the gender experts from all ministries... 

Emancipation policy: more chances for women (in culture)

In the course of 2007, the emancipation policy memorandum for the years 2008-2011 was presented: More Opportunities for Women [Meer kansen voor vrouwen]. The central question in the 21st century for Dutch emancipation policy is how to enable girls and women, with an ethnic background, to develop their talents, personal and professional, to enter the labour market and / or to work more hours at a salary which is not lower than that of their male colleagues.

There are a few issues in the policy memorandum directly related to the cultural policy domain. One issue is to make young girls and women less vulnerable to sexual violence via the media, as in popular internet sites, music broadcasting stations like MTV and other television programmes. A media-education and expertise centre has been announced (see chapter 8.3.1). The Ministry of Education, Culture and Science has invited MTV and NICAM, Netherlands Institute for the Classification of Audio-visual Media [Nederlands Instituut voor de Classificatie van Audiovisuele Media] which coordinates Film Alert [Kijkwijzer] to re-define their rules concerning sex, violence and drugs in music clips (see also chapter 5.3.6). Another issue is to increase the number of women in key positions in advisory boards and in higher management functions. This issue has already been on the agenda of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science since the Balkenende II Cabinet (2003-2006), concerning women in arts, cultural heritage, media and literature organisations and in libraries. Research in 2007 showed that in the cultural organisations subsidised by the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, only 26% was female. To promote the general governmental strategy of more women in key positions, the Ministers of Culture and Economic Affairs, the large employers organisations and the Social and Economic Council of the Netherlands [Sociaal-Economische Raad, SER], in 2007, appointed a Task Force for the development of a charter called Women on Top [Vrouwen aan de Top]. In spring 2008, the Charter was signed by 40 non-profit and for-profit organisations: in the cultural sector 1 Public Cultural Fund signed: the Mondriaan Foundation [Mondriaan Stichting] (see chapter 8.1.2).

Other important recommendations for the emancipation policy of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science in 2007 were: investment in advancing expertise within the department itself; leading the departmental emancipation policy more on a structural basis than by projects; focusing on content matter (like image-forming) as well as on management; and on formulating explicit emancipation goals by the Ministry and its decentralised organisations. These organisations do very few instruments to realise their part in the emancipation goal.

The implementation of the emancipation policy in the cultural sector is delegated to Network CS [Netwerk CS], a national network of professionals and organisations in the cultural sector, aimed at the development of diversity projects and policy via the exchange of knowledge and experiences. The most important areas of development Network CS are audience reach, programming and staff policy. Until 2009, Network CS especially focuses on gender, age and ethnic minorities. Programmes commissioned by Network CS and developed by Careers or Barriers in the Arts [Carrières of Barrières in de Kunsten] are, for instance: Building Stones and Coaching and Mentoring in Culture. These programmes are meant to stimulate female (diverse) talent in the cultural sector through coaching and training of artistic creators, critics and managers.

Of the 7 public funds (see chapter 8.1.2), on 1 January 2008, there were 4 male and 3 female directors; and of the sector institutes, 13 were male and 2 had female directors. In the Rijksmuseum, in 2007, 51% of the employees were female, 60% of them working in part time functions. No women are represented the Board of Directors of the Rijksmuseum; while 33% of the Supervisory Board is female.

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