Practice English Speaking&Listening with: Are WOMEN and MEN EQUAL in the NETHERLANDS?

Probably out of all the places that I lived

the most equal.

We have the most equality here.

And it's refreshing, and it's awesome.

From my experience of just living here a year,

it appears fairly equal.

The Netherlands is quite progressive actually.

The environment is better for women in the Netherlands

than for women in Poland.

Your gender doesn't matter here.

You are first a human being.

I think the Netherlands is known generally

for a place where there's no bias

against people for their race, sex...

That's something that the Dutch

can be really, really proud of.

People don't have any bias about

if you are lady worker

or you are a man worker...

It doesn't matter.

Well, I think there is very little discrimination

in the Netherlands,

and women have I think equal rights and chances.

For me, I think here that men and women are equal.

I think the Netherlands, the society itself,

is very homogeneous.

The differences between men and women

are much smaller than the differences

that we see in other countries.

And women are really strong;

that's also probably an add-on result

of women having to pay for their dates.

Dutch men don't give flowers

or at least open the door.

They don't open the doors,

they don't help you with the seats.

I like it here, because men here

can do a lot of "girl things."

Dutch men are more involved in caring for children

and their families than Polish men.

You see the dad and mom,

and the dad is holding his baby,

and the mom is walking without anything,

and I was like: wow, this is so beautiful here

to see dad with the baby.

In Syria, most of the time,

the mother has to carry the child and do everything.

Here, everybody shares everything.

I think: the couples is the way it works.

With my boyfriend, we share doing the house,

preparing the food...

I feel more respected here.

Our ex-neighbours, the father goes out

with the daughter to paint her nails,

to make her hair.

It's a "girl thing" in Brazil,

but the father goes with the girl,

and the mother goes to watch

a Star Wars movie with the son.

It's a "boy program."

Nobody judges.

It's very common here... It's very nice.

Men and women equally can do the work.

The best person for the job should do it.

Here, you are more responsible

for the well-being of the company,

so you have the responsibility.

So, whether you are a woman or a man,

you have the same responsibilities.

Women here stand a better chance

to have the same type of opportunities of a man.

I didn't see quite a lot like a gap or distance,

something between a man and woman at work,

If a woman and man has the same position,

they earn the same money.

People are certain about salary progress,

and there is no difference if it's a woman or man.

I think that the income disparity between

males and females probably happens in all places.

Here, I have found that people

are particularly private about their financial means,

so I can't answer definitely about that.

I don't think they really have the same chance,

but compared with Germany,

here are more women working.

There where I work, we are half women.

At your job, they try kind of to help you out.

You can have flexible schedule.

Most of the businesses and organizations, companies,

they do try to accommodate women with kids

or who are pregnant.

The idea around work where you can

work part-time; it's normal.

In the United States, it's a real cultural divide

between women who stay home

and women who go to work.

I think the culture doesn't support

both partners working full time.

One of the things that really surprised me a lot...

was that at the time that I actually was pregnant,

I was expected to give up my job

and to dedicate some time to my child,

which is something that is obviously

good for the first month,

but I was never intending to switch

to a part-time position

only because I became a mother.

I felt that there was some kind of cultural resistance

about the fact that I still wanted to pursue my career.

I think in upper management,

there may be a little bit more representation

of male colleagues.

I can also realize that in the top positions,

we don't have many women.

Yeah, that's true.

That's true.

It's like there's still men overwhelming.

I still feel that the society has not done yet that step

to accept that those opportunities

can and should be used.