ABSTRACT
To many feminist observers from abroad, The Netherlands is something of an anomaly. On the one hand, until recently female participation in the workforce (often adopted as an indicator of women’s position in society [Norris, 1987, was amongst the lowest in Europe, on a footing with far less-industrialized countries such as Ireland and Spain. 1 On the other hand, sexual and social mores are clearly relaxed and there is a lively feminist movement which has made more headway in public life than its counterparts in the UK, France or Germany. This chapter aims to examine public policy on women and to account for the slow down in progress at the end of the 1980s.
