For further information on events, statistics and outreach in the Netherlands, see the complete report: Netherlands.

INTRODUCTION
The Netherlands has an active association for women in mathematics, EWM-NL, and several other scientific
women’s associations, e.g., all women full professors across sciences (LNVH), women in data science (WIDS) or
(women in) statistics and operations research (VVSOR). These associations offer a wide range of meetings and
activities. Below we report the major activities in the reported period that focused exclusively on women in
mathematics, and thus on the activities of EWM-NL.
In the reported period, the Netherlands was almost completely in lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In
person activities were only possible at the end of 2021 and in 2022. As such, the focus of the national association

was on visibility and maintaining a community spirit. To give shape to these themes, we started community pro-
jects that can be carried out exclusively online. These pertain to updating / translating / creating Wikipedia pages

of women mathematicians, designing a poster of prominent women mathematicians throughout history, and

starting a new STEM campaign. We further continued with our long-term projects (mentoring, monitoring, out-
reach). These projects, in addition to their intrinsic value, had indeed an effect in fostering a community spirit in

the Dutch community of women in mathematics. This is evidenced by the significantly increased engagement we
had with our social media, the fact that the Wikipedia project continued running throughout the whole 2021
(and continues in 2022) with a core team of volunteers, and the addition to the executive and advisory boards
of several new members.

EVENTS ORGANISATION
ANNUAL MEETING OF WOMEN IN MATHEMATICS 2020
On Friday November 30, 2020, the (online) annual event of EWM-NL took place. The event was attended by 55
participants.
EWM-NL president Prof. Maria Vlasiou started off the event and gave an overview of EWM-NL’s activities and
plans for next year. She also recalled that our theme for this year, including this event, was visibility.
The first keynote speaker was Prof. Tanja van der Lippe, who told us about differences between men and women

regarding visibility, from a sociological perspective. During her presentation and the subsequent group discus-
sion, she highlighted how these differences affect career development. She explained for instance how an indi-
vidual woman can have a more successful academic career but also on how already established academics can

support their junior colleagues.

Differences between men and women and their chances to be successful depend on different factors. For exam-
ple, the public opinion is currently against women (especially those with children) working full-time. In addition,

the culture within an organisation and networking opportunities are important for career development. Here, it
is important to network with peers as well as within your gender group. A group of employees should have at
least 15 percent of one gender (which is currently not the case in most mathematics departments). Quota are an
effective tool for increasing the percentage of women in a department.
As tips for career development for individuals Prof. Van der Lippe proposed:
• Be yourself. Don’t try to develop the same traits as your male colleagues.
• If you are the only woman on a board, try to be the chair. Women are often invited to talk less often.
• Talk with your partner about having children; how are you going to divide the work? If you discuss these
matters beforehand, then probably tasks will be better divided. Otherwise, outsource more housework.
• Take good care of creating a network which contains both women and men.
• If you are already an established academic it is important to assist your (younger) peers. Be a role model
for them, give them the floor, and think strategically for each other.

The second keynote speaker of the event was Dr. Arjen Dijkstra, who is specialised in the history of mathematics
in Friesland. He gave an overview of important women in the history of mathematics. In his talk he not only

provided a list of mathematicians who played a significant historical role, but also described how they were per-
ceived by their peers. We saw that female mathematicians gradually got more accepted and respected.

Afterwards, during a brainstorming session, we collected a list of female mathematicians who should but cur-
rently do not have a (Dutch) Wikipedia page. This list contributed to the red list and eventually to creating Wik-
ipedia pages for these great and inspiring mathematicians; this project was launched in January 2021.

ANNUAL MEETING OF WOMEN IN MATHEMATICS 2021
The Annual Meeting took place on November 12, 2021, at Utrecht University. The theme of this year’s meeting
was “The Importance of Networking”. Our main goal was to discuss best practices and benefits of networking
and to provide a networking opportunity to our participants. It was a successful and productive afternoon. We
organized the event in hybrid form and had 40 participants registered for in-person participation, and 23 for
online participation.
The program for the event started with two lectures by the invited speakers, who shared their experience in
leading active and successful university and national level networks connecting female mathematicians.
The first speaker of the day was Vanessa Magnanimo, the chair of Female Faculty Network Twente. In her
presentation, Magnanimo talked about the story of creation and development of the Female Faculty Network at
University of Twente. Using the example of this organization, she showed how such faculty networks can foster

positive change in the university policy, promote equity and gender balance, and help create nurturing and wel-
coming atmosphere for all students and faculty members. Magnanimo also talked about changes in recruitment

and promotion policy that are necessary to achieve these goals.
The second plenary speaker was Eugenie Hunsicker, the chair of the London Mathematical Society’s Committee

for Women and Diversity in Mathematics. Hunsicker shared her own experience in creating professional net-
works and her path into diversity work. She talked about different goals networking can have, such as research,

support and action, and different approached one can take, depending on the goal. She also gave an overview
of various networks, organizations, and projects aiming to promote diversity and equity, and support female
mathematicians, focusing on how they can help one in achieving their networking goals.
The second half of the event started with an overview of EWM-NL’s activities and plans for the next year given

by EWM-NL president Maria Vlasiou. It was followed by an open discussion based on the questions that partici-
pants submitted during their registration for the event. The list of topics included:

• mentorship programs and networking activities in the Netherlands
• post-Corona networking: what will be different?
• role of social media in building and maintaining professional networks
• ways to promote inclusion principles in your department
Both in-person and online participants actively contributed to the discussion.

The program of the event also provided plenty of time for informal discussions and networking among the par-
ticipants during coffee breaks and reception.

In the complete report you will find further descriptions of events/outreach such as:

• NMC participation
• International Day of Mathematics
• CWM coordinators meeting
• Media training workshop
• Workshop: “A PhD, is that for me?”
• Sponsoring the Benelux and the Dutch mathematics Olympiads
• Women in the spotlight
• Setting up Greek Women in Mathematics (GWM)
• STEM campaign
• Mentor network
• Grants
• Insight Out
• Number of women in mathematics 2019 and 2020
• Wikipedia project
• Pages added until December 2021
• Pages extended until December 2021
• Poster women in mathematics
• Competition
• Words of Women in Mathematics in the Time of Corona
• Social media