"If you encounter injustice somewhere, you don't sit back. You have to do something about it. My parents made this clear to me from an early age and I try to live up to this to this day." This quote from the book Bewogen levens. Rooie Vrouwen in beeld (2012) characterises Willemien Ruygrok as an advocate for equal rights and women's gender equality. On 11 December 2025, former Atria colleague Willemien died at the age of 74.
"If you encounter injustice somewhere, you don't sit back. You have to do something about it. My parents made this clear to me from an early age and I try to live up to this to this day." This quote from the book Bewogen levens. Rooie Vrouwen in beeld (2012) characterises Willemien Ruygrok as an advocate for equal rights and women's gender equality. On 11 December 2025, former Atria colleague Willemien died at the age of 74.
Willemien was born on 30 March 1951. Her father taught drama to young people and her mother was a housewife. She first studied cultural anthropology and then went to the social academy in Amsterdam. During her studies, she did an internship at Vrouwen Vormingscentrum De Born, where she then worked as a trainer for five years.
Feminism and socialism
Willemien was active in the women's and lhbti movements from the early 1970s. She was also closely involved in the activities of Rooie Vrouwen, the women's organisation in the Labour Party. The Rooie Vrouwen fought for equal rights and to change the image and politics surrounding women. Willemien was active on the board, provided training and was editor-in-chief of the Rooie Vrouwen Magazine. In 2012, she was one of eight Rooie Vrouwen whose life stories were recorded in an oral history project by Atria and client Stichting De Born. In this women's formation centre, many Rooie Vrouwen had gained political knowledge and experience.
Short excerpt from interview with Willemien Ruygrok [Oral History project Rooie Vrouwen].
Lesbian identity
At a young age, Willemien knew she was a lesbian and came out openly about it.
"Through my open homosexuality, I played myself into the picture, got to interesting places and met a lot of nice people."
Lhbti rights
Important was Willemien's role in lhbti policy and gender equality. At the COC, where she worked from 1981 to 1993, she ensured that gay interests were put on the agenda in national politics. Thanks in part to her, an explicit legal ban on discrimination on grounds of homosexual orientation and gender, among others, was introduced in 1994: the General Equal Treatment Act.
Women's gender equality and Europe
Willemien traded her work for the COC in 1993 for Arachne - Women's Advice Bureau on Public Policy, which in 1998 formed the knowledge institute E-Quality with three other organisations. Here, she founded the Article 19 Platform, an alliance between knowledge centres on the various forms of non-discrimination. The purpose of the Platform was to monitor and influence European policy and its implementation in the Netherlands, and to maintain contact with European and Dutch politicians and officials.
In 2009 and in 2012, Willemien was (re)appointed by the European Parliament as a member of the Expert Forum of EIGE, the European Institute for Gender Equality. From 2012 to 2014, Willemien was senior policy advisor on European affairs at Atria.
Publications
The publication 'Be Equal, Be Different: application in practice' (2002) - after the European anti-discrimination project of the same name - is one of many publications written by Willemien that can be found in Atria's collection.
