The line graph compares the difference in income proportion between genders in five countries namely Japan, the US, France, the UK and Australia from 1978 to 2008.
Overall, it is clear that the variation in income percentage between male and female in Japan was the highest throughout the 30-year period. However, four out of five nations exhibited a similar downward trend in terms of income differences except for Australia.
In 1978, the difference in income between genders in Japan was recorded at around 48%. The figures for the US and the UK were similar at approximately 34% and 29% respectively, whereas the figures for France and Australia were far below, and quite the same at roughly 19%. Though gradually declining, the income gap in Japan remained higher than in other countries, and fell to around 40% in 2008.
Over the 30-year period, there was a similar steady decrease in the income difference in the US and the UK, and the figures subsequently dwindled to approximately 36% in both nations. Furthermore, the difference percentage of France also gradually fell and dropped to around 27% in 2008. By contrast, despite of continuous decrease, in 1998 the figure for Australia significantly rose and reached roughly 24% in 2008.