Senna Maatoug (born 19 August 1989) is a Dutch civil servant and politician, who has been a member of the House of Representatives since the 2021 general election. She is a member of the green political party GroenLinks.

Education and career

She studied political science at

Leiden University Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; nl, Universiteit Leiden) is a Public university, public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. The university was founded as a Protestant university in 1575 by William the Silent, William, Prince o ...

and economics at

Utrecht University Utrecht University (UU; nl, Universiteit Utrecht, formerly ''Rijksuniversiteit Utrecht'') is a public research university in Utrecht, Netherlands. Established , it is one of the oldest universities in the Netherlands. In 2018, it had an enrollme ...

until 2013, when she obtained a

master's A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

and research master's degree. During her study, she also worked at the newspaper ''

Leidsch Dagblad The ''Leidsch Dagblad'' (Dutch: Leiden Daily) is a Dutch regional newspaper that is published since March 1, 1860.World Universities Debating Championship in the category English as a Second Language. Before becoming a member of parliament, Maatoug worked at the Social and Economic Council, at the Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment, and as an economist at the Ministry of Finance. Besides her job, she taught economics at Leiden University. Maautoug also served on the board of the Druckerfonds, a foundation that financially supports social and cultural initiatives in and around

Leiden Leiden (; in English and archaic Dutch also Leyden) is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. The municipality of Leiden has a population of 119,713, but the city forms one densely connected agglomeration wit ...

, between 2018 and 2021, and she is co-founder and co-chair of Het Collectief, a local organization organizing policy discussions.

National politics

She was placed fifth on the

party list An electoral list is a grouping of candidates for election, usually found in proportional or mixed electoral systems, but also in some plurality electoral systems. An electoral list can be registered by a political party (a party list) or can ...

of GroenLinks in the 2021 general election. During the campaign, Maatoug argued that the number of

temporary employment Temporary work or temporary employment (also called gigs) refers to an employment situation where the working arrangement is limited to a certain period of time based on the needs of the employing organization. Temporary employees are sometimes ...

contracts had gotten out of control. She was elected to the House with 19,392

preference votes In psychology, economics and philosophy, preference is a technical term usually used in relation to choosing between alternatives. For example, someone prefers A over B if they would rather choose A than B. Preferences are central to decision the ...

. Maatoug's specializations are social affairs, employment, pensions, integration, and child care, and she is on the parliamentary Committees for Finance, for Public Expenditure, and for Social Affairs and Employment as well as on the United States contact group and the Parliamentary Inquiry into Fraud Policy and Public Service, initiated as a result of the

Dutch childcare benefits scandal The Dutch childcare benefits scandal ( nl, kinderopvangtoeslagaffaire or , ) is a political scandal in the Netherlands concerning false allegations of fraud made by the Tax and Customs Administration while attempting to regulate the distribut ...

. Together with Labour Party member of parliament

Henk Nijboer Henk Nijboer (born 31 March 1983) is a Dutch politician. As a member of the Labour Party (Partij van de Arbeid) he has been an MP since 20 September 2012. Previously he was a member of the provincial parliament of the province of Groningen ...

, she wrote an alternative budget proposal with more spending on health care, education, and welfare, with higher corporate and

capital tax A wealth tax (also called a capital tax or equity tax) is a tax on an entity's holdings of assets. This includes the total value of personal assets, including cash, bank deposits, real estate, assets in insurance and pension plans, ownershi ...

es, and with a lower budget deficit compared to the

coalition A coalition is a group formed when two or more people or groups temporarily work together to achieve a common goal. The term is most frequently used to denote a formation of power in political or economical spaces. Formation According to ''A Gui ...

's budget. Furthermore, in reaction to widespread

remote work Remote work, also called work from home (WFH), work from anywhere, telework, remote job, mobile work, and distance work is an employment arrangement in which employees do not commute to a central place of work, such as an office building, ware ...

ing during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

to contain the virus, Maatoug and

Steven van Weyenberg Steven Peter Robert Albert van Weyenberg (; born 21 March 1973) is a Belgian-born Dutch politician, who served as List of Ministers of Infrastructure of the Netherlands, State Secretary for Infrastructure and Water Management in the (Demission ...

( D66) introduced a bill to prohibit companies from denying an employee's request to work from home or from the office without proper reasoning. The ''

Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

'' reported that it would make the Netherlands among the first countries with a right to work from home. The bill – called "Werken waar je wilt" (Working wherever you want) and an amendment to the Flexible Working Act of 2015 – was passed by the House in July 2022. Maatoug said that it would improve employee's

work–life balance Work may refer to: * Work (human activity), intentional activity people perform to support themselves, others, or the community ** Manual labour, physical work done by humans ** House work, housework, or homemaking ** Working animal, an animal tr ...

and that it would lead to lower commuting times. However, the bill was rejected by the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

in September 2023 in a 37–38 vote. Maatoug also continued a 2020 bill by Wim-Jan Renkema (GroenLinks) – who had left the House – to require companies to have a confidant. It was passed by the House in May 2023 with opposition from the coalition party

VVD The People's Party for Freedom and Democracy ( nl, Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie ; VVD) is a conservative-liberal Andeweg, R. and G. Irwin ''Politics and Governance in the Netherlands'', Basingstoke (Palgrave) p.49 political party in ...

despite cabinet approval. The CDA supported the bill only after filing an amendment to initially exclude business with fewer than 10 employees. That same year, the House carried an amendment co-filed by Maatoug to shorten the term for personal debt restructuring from three to one and a half years. It received the support from a majority of the House.

Personal life

Maatoug was born and raised in the

South Holland South Holland ( nl, Zuid-Holland ) is a province of the Netherlands with a population of over 3.7 million as of October 2021 and a population density of about , making it the country's most populous province and one of the world's most densely ...

city

and still lives there. Her grandparents moved to the Netherlands from Morocco.

References

External links

Personal website

S. (Senna) Maatoug MPhil, MSc
Parlement.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Maatoug, Senna 1989 births Living people 21st-century Dutch civil servants 21st-century Dutch economists 21st-century Dutch politicians 21st-century Dutch women politicians Dutch people of Moroccan descent Dutch women economists GroenLinks politicians Leiden University alumni Academic staff of Leiden University Members of the House of Representatives (Netherlands) Utrecht University alumni