New Zealand has achieved gender equality at the highest level of government, with 10 women sitting with 10 men in cabinet.
Parity was reached with the appointment of Willow-Jean Prime as conservation minister by Prime Minister Chris Hipkins.
"For the first time in New Zealand's history, half of the people sitting around the cabinet table will be women," he said.
Having a gender balance among senior ministers that reflects the population is a good milestone to achieve, according to the prime minister.
"And in fact, overall, there are more women in the executive than there are men if you count the ministers outside of the cabinet as well."
In his short time as leader, Mr Hipkins has promoted three women to cabinet.
Wellington-based MPs Ginny Andersen and Barbara Edmonds were brought into the fold in Mr Hipkins' first cabinet.
Ms Prime enters cabinet from the outer ministry this week, filling the vacancy from the sacking of Stuart Nash for leaking cabinet information to party donors.
The promotions tip the balance to a 10-10 split, following other milestones for the New Zealand parliament during this term.
Following the Labour landslide at the 2020 election, 58 of New Zealand's 120-strong house were women.
A number of resignations have since boosted that total to 61, meaning women outnumber men for the first time in history.
Soraya Peke-Mason had the honour of tipping women into the majority last October, when she was sworn into parliament.
Mr Hipkins said he didn't set out to achieve parity among men and women, instead picking Ms Prime for getting across her briefs when she was promoted to an outer ministry in January.
"Willow got up to speed very quickly with the new portfolios that I gave her when I did the reshuffle ... (her gender) was not the factor that tipped to favour one person or another," he said.
New Zealand is also home to the queerest parliament in the world, with 12 out LGBTQI lawmakers elected in 2020.
