Silke is a PhD candidate working in the Economic and Social History department since March 2022. Before joining her colleagues in Utrecht, she studied at the University of Amsterdam, where she earned a bachelor’s in Sociology and completed a research master’s in Social Sciences. Her academic interests center around gender (in)equality within Dutch society, women in the labour market, and the organization of gender-inclusive healthcare.

In her PhD project, Silke aims to determine the historical origins of gendered occupational stereotypes within the Dutch medical sector, how and why they change over time, and how they affect the majority gender shares of medical specializations. Additionally, the project examines how gendered occupational segregation affects the (self-)perceived status of specialties, the relative remuneration of male and female physicians, and how historical processes of exclusion affect the present-day work culture within medical disciplines.