THE HAGUE, 30/01/04 - Among the women from the four largest groups of ethnic minorities, 53 percent are in a deprived position. Only 22 percent are "in a socially successful position," Social Affairs Minister Aart Jan de Geus and Integration Minister Rita Verdonk reported yesterday.

The bulk of the deprived immigrant women are of Turkish and Moroccan origin. Only a quarter of them have a job. Among Surinam women, 56 percent have work, the same as among indigenous women. Among Netherlands Antilles females, about half have a job, the ministers said, reporting on research by the Social and Cultural Planning Bureau (SCP).

Turkish and Moroccan women in particular lag behind indigenous women in many areas and also behind the men in their own ethnic group. Around 68,000 Turkish and 56,000 Moroccan women are described by SCP as deprived. The biggest deprivation is among older women from the first generation and girls coming to the Netherlands as marriage partners. Many have "scarcely any or no contacts with the indigenous and often have traditional views on the relations between man and wife."