Samenvatting

Since 1995 the influx of labour migrants in the Netherlands has increased steadily from over 10.000 in 1995 to around 47.000 in 2011. As a consequence, from 2007, searching a job is the main migration motive of non-Dutch immigrants to migrate to the Netherlands. On average, one third of all labour migrants were women. Explanations for the fact that a minority of the labour migrants coming to the Netherlands are women can be derived from the literature. Possible reasons are gender patterns (in the Netherlands and/or the countries of origin) and differences in the personal networks of men and women. In addition, the Dutch labour migration policy, and in particular the conditions applying to labour migrants (in terms of education and employment sector) as well as the restriction on the right of family members of labour migrants to work in the Netherlands, may limit the influx of female labour migrants.