This is actually news to me, messy, great find! I've been scanning some news reports about the proposal and some comments from the on-line people. My perspective for now: a hot air balloon.

Once so often Dutch MP just launch an idea and see whether it floats or just get boohed away. I recall a proposal of minister Peijs of Traffic last summer wherein she mused about a ban of all un-attached objects at the back of a car, to avoid making them a target during a violent collision. It got boohed so fast and so loud (what about umbrellas? Or road-books? Or tissue boxes?) I don't think it ever came back...

And I'm with Elco on this: how entirely double faced of her. This is the typical old-school PvdA way of paternalistic thinking and the one I fervently oppose. It's meddlesome government, not good government. That besides, it uses the stick instead of the carrot, which always irritates me. My personal opinion is that people respond better to profitable stimuli, and not to penalising ones.

Most what I read is heavy criticism. People are quoting the Dutch constitution on equality and I feel they've a point.  

I also found some numbers: According to the CBS, the official agency for statistics, about 58 percent of the women (active population!) are now working (part time + full time, I guess). Is that really such a bad number?

Furthermore, the percentage of higher educated women which are unemployed is quoted at about 9.5% (NOS, the public news agency), less than 100.000 in total. And I wonder how many of them are just in their early phase of looking for a suitable job...

Combine that with the fact that Sharon is stuck in the Parliament since 1994 after botching two studies (and probably not eager to leave with a massive PvdA victory projected), and I call this an official boo-boo.