More women to obtain doctorate

In recent years, the number of people obtaining a doctorate has increased in the Netherlands, particularly among women. In 2006/’07 over 3 thousand persons wrote dissertations, of whom over 40 percent were women. This is an increase relative to 1990/’91, when fewer than 2 thousand persons obtained PhD degrees, of whom only 18 percent were women.

In various areas of study, women are catching up. In health care and welfare (medical sciences) more women than men obtained doctor’s degrees in the past two years. In 2006/’07, 542 women were awarded PhDs as against 478 men.

Doctorates, all disciplines