Switzerland's parliament has voted a new minister into the government, giving the cabinet a majority of women for the first time.
The election of Simonetta Sommaruga, 50, a Social Democrat, is a historic step in a country where women only got to vote on a national level in 1971.
Ms Sommaruga becomes the fourth female in the seven-member Federal Council.
Another absent post was filled by a man - Johann Schneider-Ammann.
The seven members of the Swiss cabinet have recently always been drawn from the four leading parties.
Although it is highly unusual in Europe for women to hold a majority in a country's cabinet, it is not unique. The Spanish cabinet unveiled by Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero after his re-election in 2008 included more women than men.
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