In the newly elected municipal councils, more than 36 percent of councilors are women. Before the elections on March 16, this was still 31 percent. In the seventy largest municipalities, the proportion of women in the municipal council is even higher. This is evident from figures collected by the Stem op een Vrouw Foundation.
Women are in the majority in 24 Dutch municipalities. This also applies to Meppel, where the council consists of twelve women and eleven men; or just over 52 percent are women. The number of women on the council has increased in nine municipalities in Drenthe.
With the exception of Meppel, men are in the majority in all of Drenthe. In eight municipalities the percentage of women – in line with the national trend – is above 36 percent. It is only lower in Emmen, Coevorden, Tynaarlo and Hoogeveen. In the municipality of Coevorden, the percentage of women is the lowest at 24 percent.
Fewer women in Emmen, Coevorden and Hoogeveen
The number of women on the council has decreased in three municipalities. These are Emmen, Coevorden and Hoogeveen. In all three municipalities there is now one less woman on the municipal council than in the previous period.
According to the Vote for a Woman Foundation ‘growth does not take place thanks to more equality on the electoral list, but thanks to the voter’. The foundation calculated that, across the Netherlands, 459 female councilors who were in an ‘unelectable’ position nevertheless entered the council thanks to preferential votes.
Check out this map to see how the women are doing in Drenthe: