Dutch University Defends Women-Only Job Openings

Article here. Excerpt:

'A Dutch university and an anti-discrimination organization faced off Monday before the Netherlands Institute for Human Rights over a women-only hiring policy.

“This is an odd case,” Institute chairperson Corrie ter Veer said when she opened the hearing before a nearly full room. The case has attracted a lot of media attention in the Netherlands and most major press outlets were present for the hour and a half session.

It centers on the Eindhoven University of Technology’s change in its hiring policy in June. All teaching staff positions at the university will be open only to women for the first six months. If a suitable candidate isn’t found after that period of time, the position will then be opened to men.

The university plans to run the program for the next five years, though it will evaluate the results in 18 months and adjust the overall number of positions first open to women as necessary.

Of the university’s 613 professors, currently only 20% are women.

“We think it is very important to improve the numbers,” said Frank Baaijens, rector of the university.'