LNVH presents the 2025 Women Professors Monitor

8 December 2025

Dutch Network of Women Professors (LNVH) publishes the Women Professors Monitor 2025:

• Symbolic 30% threshold reached: nearly one in three professors is a woman
• Growth remains modest and uneven; parity not expected before 2043
• Universities set new targets for 2030
• The Netherlands still ranks low among EU countries
• Replacement potential of women associate professors exceeds 100%

30% milestone reached – but no reason for complacency
By the end of 2024, women accounted for 29.9% of professors at Dutch universities, an increase of 1.2 percentage points compared to 2023. This means the symbolic 30% threshold – often regarded as the critical mass for structural change – has almost been achieved. Yet growth remains modest and uneven. Based on current trends, gender parity* will not be reached until 2043.

Persistent bottlenecks in career progression
Women’s representation still declines sharply at each step of the academic ladder: from 51.9% among students to 46.1% among PhD candidates, 47.6% among assistant professors, 36.6% among associate professors, and only 29.9% among professors. The transitions from assistant to associate professor and from associate professor to full professor remain particularly challenging.

Growth in FTE entirely driven by women
Between the end of 2023 and the end of 2024, the total number of professor FTEs increased by 22.4. Remarkably, this growth was entirely due to women – and women also compensated for the decline among men. Women gained +42.5 FTE, while men lost -21.2 FTE. More than 100% of net growth went to women. This is crucial for increasing the share of women professors: not only through new appointments but also by replacing outgoing male professors.

Large-scale retirement of men creates opportunities
The long-anticipated retirement of male professors aged 60+ is now clearly visible. The replacement potential of women associate professors stands at 108.1%, more than enough to fill vacancies. This offers a unique opportunity to accelerate progress – provided universities maintain active appointment, promotion and career policies.

New targets for 2030
With the 30% threshold now reached, universities are looking ahead. At the request of LNVH, new sector-wide targets have been set for 2030: an average of 36.9% women professors. Individual university targets range from 25% (Delft University of Technology) to 50% (Utrecht University – based on its stated range of 40–60%). These ambitious goals are crucial to accelerate progress, especially in times of budget cuts and declining political support for gender equality.

Ten years of growth in perspective
The Monitor also highlights developments over the past decade, since LNVH first agreed targets with universities. The share of women professors increased from 17.1% in 2014 to 29.9% in 2024. While this is significant progress, the data show that each university has its own growth pattern, with large differences in pace and results.

International comparison: The Netherlands still near the bottom
According to the European Commission’s She Figures 2024, the average share of women professors in the EU-27 rose from 27.3% in 2019 to 29.7% in 2022. The Netherlands increased from 23.7% to 27.3% in the same period but remains among the lowest-ranked countries, with 15 countries performing better.

International staff rising, but underrepresented at the top
The share of academic staff with an international background continues to grow, ranging from 58.1% among PhD candidates to 24.1% among professors. Women in senior positions are more likely to have an international background than men. Representation declines sharply at higher ranks, indicating additional barriers for international scholars.

Glass Ceiling Index and employment conditions
The Glass Ceiling Index for women remains high for the transition from assistant to associate professor (1.3) and from associate professor to full professor (1.2), signaling persistent barriers. Women are still less represented in the highest salary scales and generally have slightly smaller contracts – except at professor level, where women now have a marginally larger average contract size (0.88 FTE vs. 0.86 FTE). Women professors are also significantly younger on average than their male counterparts.

Permanent versus temporary contracts
The Monitor shows a positive trend: the share of permanent contracts continues to increase, strengthening the structural position of academics. Women have an equal or higher likelihood of holding a permanent contract in most academic roles, except among professors, where women still slightly more often have temporary contracts. Among lecturers and researchers, the reverse is true: women are more likely to have temporary contracts than men. These differences require attention, as contract security is a key condition for career progression and equal opportunities.

Gender imbalance across disciplines
The Monitor reveals stark differences between fields. Economics has the lowest share of women professors at 19%, despite women making up 35.8% of students. Natural Sciences and Engineering also lag behind (20.5% and 20.7%). By contrast, Social Sciences and Humanities fare better (43.9% and 42.3%) but still fall short of parity. LNVH therefore advises stronger collaboration between for example faculty deans to address gender inequality at the disciplinary level – not only within individual universities but sector-wide.

Academic leadership: for the first time, women hold over 50% of executive board positions
For the first time, women make up more than half of university executive boards: 51.2%. This is a significant milestone, although women remain underrepresented in supervisory boards (44.9%). At other levels of academic management, progress is visible but far from parity. The share of women among deans increased slightly to 36.4%, while the proportion of women directors of education institutes fell from 57.9% to 46.7%. Among directors of research institutes, the percentage remained virtually unchanged at 36.4%. Notably, women are still better represented in education management than in research and integrated management roles – positions that typically carry greater influence and authority. These figures underscore that gender equality is not only about progression to professorships but also about access to key decision-making roles in academic governance.

University medical centers: one in three professors is a woman
University medical centers also reached a milestone: the share of women professors increased from 31.6% in 2024 to 33.2% in 2025, marking the first time that one in three professors at university medical centers is a woman.

Moving forward – together, now more than ever
Reaching the 30% threshold is a milestone worth marking. It is vital to set clear markers on the road to parity and celebrate progress – not only to record history accurately but to energize the next steps. Yet we caution against a persistent misconception: that once critical mass is achieved, equality will follow automatically. Research shows this is not the case. Progress requires sustained effort – especially now.

In times of budget cuts, declining student numbers, and anti-gender movements that threaten attention and resources, gender equality must remain a structural, long-term priority. Not only at professor level but throughout the academic pipeline. The figures in this Monitor paint a promising picture – with strong replacement potential, more permanent contracts, and opportunities created by retirements – but these gains can in current troubled times quickly evaporate if we lose focus.

LNVH calls on university leaders, policymakers, government, and all stakeholders to continue to join forces with us: keep gender equality on the agenda, actively steer progress, and accelerate change. This milestone must not become an endpoint – it must be a springboard to real equality. LNVH will continue to advocate, challenge, and collaborate as a critical ally to the sector, with one clear goal: an innovative, inclusive, and balanced academic world.

The Monitor: far more than a press release
The Women Professors Monitor 2025 is a comprehensive publication that goes far beyond what can be captured in a press release. Here, we share only the key highlights. We warmly invite everyone to explore the full Monitor and review its detailed insights: from data on NWO and KNAW institutes to developments in support and administrative staff (OBP), and from discipline-specific analyses to extensive information on salary scales, contract types, and academic management. These insights provide a nuanced and essential picture for anyone committed to building an inclusive and future-proof academic sector.

Caspar van den Berg, Chair of Universities of the Netherlands (UNL):

“The Monitor reveals several encouraging developments. I regard it as a significant milestone that women now constitute 30 percent of full professors. At the same time, there is still work to be done. This is why all universities have agreed on new targets for 2030, ensuring that we continue to advance toward equal representation in academia.”

Helen Mertens, Chair of UMCNL: 

“That one in three professors in the university medical centers is now a woman marks an important milestone. Yet, we are far from finished. With 64% of PhD candidates and 56% of assistant professors being women, however, there is a great deal of talent progressing within the UMCs. We remain committed to equal opportunities and to fostering a safe and inclusive academic environment.”

Read and download the Women Professors Monitor 2025 here. 
A full English version will be published in January 2026.
Klik hier om dit bericht in het Nederlands te lezen.

About LNVH
The Dutch Network of Women Professors (LNVH) is committed to achieving proportional representation, improving the position of all women in academia – regardless of background – and fostering an inclusive and safe academic environment where equal pay is the norm.

*Although this Monitor and press release focus on women-men ratios, LNVH emphasizes that gender equality is not binary. Increasingly, data in the UNL WOPI category “Other” is becoming available (for which LNVH advocates a renaming), but numbers are still too small to publish without risking traceability. Where possible, this Monitor already includes such data. LNVH actively works to improve data collection and enable intersectional analyses, so that policy can address gender and other dimensions of diversity more effectively.

 For further information and interview requests: Lidwien Poorthuis | +31 6 15207225 | poorthuis@lnvh.nl