Bureau Clara Wichmann
Clara Wichmann Bureau is a Dutch foundation that funds and brings strategic litigation to improve women's legal position. Until July 2018, the organization was called Stichting Proefprocessenfonds Clara Wichmann. It continues the work of the former Clara Wichmann Institute.
What you will find
The website features ongoing and completed cases, legal analyses, and news reports. The proceedings concerning the SGP, which excluded women from membership, are particularly well known. Other cases concern maternity benefits for self-employed women, defective breast implants, and sexual harassment. Anyone wishing to follow the legal aspects of equal treatment will find a wealth of material here.
Why it is on this list
The bureau is not a gender-critical organization. It says it works from an intersectional feminist perspective and also considers discrimination against non-binary and transgender people part of its field of work. The article gender and feminism explores the relationship between feminism and gender. It is included here as an authoritative Dutch source on women's rights and strategic litigation.
The SGP case and other proceedings
In the SGP case, the bureau initially won before the District Court of The Hague. The Council of State handed down its ruling on 5 December 2007, and the Supreme Court followed on 9 April 2010. The European Court of Human Rights subsequently supported the bureau's position. Between 2004 and 2008, the bureau supported self-employed pregnant women who were denied benefits. In 2017, it took action against the Dutch Healthcare Authority over rules governing insurance coverage for maternity care. In 2022, it began proceedings against a breast implant manufacturer; the case is referred to on the website as the silicone case.
Ongoing cases
The website lists six current cases. One concerns unequal pay for female judges and public prosecutors, with a hearing scheduled for 6 March 2025. A second concerns complications caused by pelvic floor mesh and the role of the inspectorate. The bureau is also litigating over the law on combined surnames and, since 24 September 2026, over on-call duties in maternity care. In the case brought by eighteen women against the De Goede Herder congregation, the court ruled on 21 September 2026 that the claims were time-barred.
Organization
The bureau is based in Amsterdam and operates with funding from donors. The themes on the website are positions of power, reproductive rights, economic justice, stereotyping and representation, and safety. On this site's gender and violence against women page, the latter theme is explored. According to the website, Yomi van der Veen is the director, and Lilianne Ploumen is affiliated with the bureau as a senior adviser. How Dutch law regulates sex and gender is explained in the Transgender Act and under Developments in the Netherlands.