The line graph illustrates the proportion of female parliamentarians in five European countries (Germany, Italy, France, the UK, and Belgium) between 2000 and 2012.
Overall, the percentage of women members in parliament significantly increased over the period given. It can be seen that Germany started with the highest rates of women in parliament, while Italy ended with the highest. Moreover, the UK started with the lowest percentage but showed significant growth.
In 2000, Germany had the highest percentage of women parliamentarians at around 34%, while the percentage of women representatives in Italy was about 23%. However, the proportion of women parliamentarians in Italy experienced a substantial increase of around 40%, surpassing Germany, which experienced a slightly lower rise of approximately 36% by 2012.
With regard to the remaining countries, the rate of female members of parliament in both France and Belgium started at around 25% and 17%, respectively in 2000. Meanwhile, the UK had the lowest percentage of female lawmakers at roughly 3%, but it rose to about 23% by 2010, reaching approximately the same level as Belgium. Furthermore, the percentage of female representatives in France observed an upward trend, reaching roughly 32% by 2012.
