The line graph shows the proportion of women in parliament between 2000 and 2012 in five European nations. Overall, all the countries recorded an increase of varying degrees, with Italy, despite involving the lowest percentage of females initially, recording by far the sharpest rise and reaching parity with the UK at the end. While Germany recorded a steady upward teajectory – similar to that of the UK, it was Spain and Belgium which showed a comparable pattern of rise, though the latter surpassed the former, becoming the country with the highest rate of female employees at the parliament.
Germany, Spain, and Belgium generally employed more women across the board. Germany emerged as the country with the largest female parliament staff initially, at roughly 31%, though it saw only a negligible increase towards the end, registering a mere 4% increase. Spain and Belgium, on the other hand, showed a similar upward trend, with their figures surging to 36% and 34% in 2004 from 26% and 24% in 2000, respectively. While the figure for the former nation gradually declined, ending the period at 35%, Belgium recruited more women in parliament and eventually peaked at 37% – the highest figure on the chart.
In contrast, the members of the parliament in the UK and Italy were generally made up of fewer women. The UK followed a similar pattern of increase as Germany, starting at around 17%, experiencing no change by 2004, the figure steadily rose, subsequently reaching a high of 23% at the end. By contrast, Italy, while its figures remained almost unchanged from 2000 to 2004 and from 2008 to 2012, recorded an exponential mid-period growth, rising from only 3% of women to staggering 23%.