Dutch positive action measures in higher education in the light of EU law
| Author | Tobias Nowak |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/1023263X221126581 |
| Published date | 01 August 2022 |
| Date | 01 August 2022 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Dutch positive action measures
in higher education in the light
of EU law
Tobias Nowak*
Abstract
In June 2020, the Netherlands Institute for Human Rights delivered an opinion on a positive action
program run by the Eindhoven University of Technology. In this legally non-binding opinion the
Institute declared the measures incompatible with the Dutch Equal Treatment Act and several
EU provisions and CJEU judgments. The program reserved all vacant positions exclusively for
women for a number of years. Consequently the Eindhoven University of Technology revised
the program and the Netherlands Institute for Human Rights approved this revised program in
March 2021 in another opinion. These opinions raise a number of interesting questions con-
cerning EU non-discrimination law that are worth investigating further. Foremost is the ques-
tion of how to interpret EU law on positive discrimination after years of silence on this issues
from the CJEU.
Keywords
Gender equality, positive discrimination, positive action measures, female-only positions in higher
education, Irène Curie fellowship program, Eindhoven University of Technology, Netherlands
institute for human rights
1. Introduction
On 1 March 2021 the Netherlands Institute for Human Rights (the Institute) delivered its second
opinion on the Irène Curie fellowship program of the Eindhoven University of Technology,
finding the revised program compatible with Dutch and European Union (EU) non-discrimination
*
Department of Transboundary Legal Studies, Faculty of Law, University of Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands
Corresponding author:
Tobias Nowak, Department of Transboundary Legal Studies, Faculty of Law, University of Groningen, Groningen 9712 EA,
Netherlands.
E-mail: t.nowak@rug.nl
Article
Maastricht Journal of European and
Comparative Law
2022, Vol. 29(4) 468–482
© The Author(s) 2022
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DOI: 10.1177/1023263X221126581
maastrichtjournal.sagepub.com
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