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A picture of part-time working

Original title: Verdeelde tijd.

The idea that a woman should work part-time no longer raises any eyebrows in the Netherlands - not even if she has just completed her education and does not yet have children; not even if her children are grown up and no longer need much looking after. Part-time working has become an intrinsic part of Dutch society. This report suggests that most women who work part-time do so from choice. It enables them to go to work whilst still having time for other things they also consider important. Partners and employers also seem to find it perfectly normal that women should work part-time.
Yet the modest working hours of many women have increasingly come to be seen as a problem in recent years, especially by the Dutch government. Part-time working also has disadvantages, not just for the careers and economic independence of the women concerned, but also for the Dutch economy as a whole and for the sustainability of the welfare state. In the light of this, the government would like to see women, and especially those working just a few hours per week, to increase their working hours. This report reveals why women so often work part-time and what might motivate them to increase their working hours.