The gender of the Dutch will however remain on their passport, a mention made compulsory by the European Union.

The gender of Dutch citizens will no longer be mentioned on their identity card in a few years, an inscription deemed "useless" by the Minister of Education, Culture and Science, Ingrid van Engelshoven. In a letter to Parliament, of which Agence France-Presse (AFP) was aware, on Saturday July 4, the Minister announced her intention to remove the inscription of the gender on identity papers "from 2024 / 2025 " .

“The Netherlands would not be the first member state [of the European Union]  to have an identity card without mention of gender. The German identity card does not mention gender, ” writes Ingrid van Engelshoven. The Minister believes that citizens must be able to "shape their own identity and live it in complete freedom and security" .

Towards the recognition of a third genus

The gender of the Dutch will however remain on their passport, a mention made compulsory by the European Union. 

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"This is great news for people who experience problems with this gender category on their identity cards day after day , " reacted Dutch LGBTQ rights organizations (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queers). 'And this is good news for anyone who thinks that what your underwear is hiding is neither about the government nor the authorities,' they added.

The Netherlands also took a step towards the recognition of a third gender in 2018, when an intersex citizen had obtained from justice the right not to have to register as a man or a woman on his act from birth.