Wethouder

The college van burgemeester en wethouders (abbreviated as college van B&W or simply B&W) is the executive board of a municipality in the Netherlands. This local government body plays a central role in municipal politics in the Netherlands. It consists of the mayor (burgemeester) and the members of the municipal executive (wethouders). Belgium has a similar system, which is referred to as the college van burgemeester en schepenen in the Dutch language.

College van burgemeester en wethouders is expressed in English in several ways, but "Mayor and Municipal Executive" or "Mayor and Executive Board" comes closest. The college van burgemeester en wethouders should not be confused with the town council itself (gemeenteraad).

A Dutch mayor (burgemeester) is sometimes called a "burgomaster" in English, but "mayor" is a more standard and conventional English translation.

A wethouder is a formal title in Dutch, but there is no real English equivalent. In English it is possible to address someone as "councillor" or "alderman", but this would refer more to someone sitting on the municipal council rather than the executive board. In the UK "alderman" is an honorary title. Sometimes wethouder is translated into English as "alderman", and indeed there is some similarity between the office of wethouder and the office of alderman as it used to exist in the UK before 1974; however, the term "alderman" is no longer used in many English-speaking countries (including the UK, Ireland, Canada and Australia), where it has mostly been replaced by other terms. Even in the US, where the term alderman is still actively used, "alderman" often refers to someone sitting on the municipal council rather than someone sitting on the executive board. Alderman is now seen by many as an inappropriate title for a woman, and for that reason alone does not really serve as an appropriate translation for the gender-neutral term wethouder. "Municipal executive councillor" or "municipal executive board member" serve as better translations for wethouder.

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