Women outnumber men in Spain's Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez's new cabinet

Spain's Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has given 11 of his 17 cabinet posts to women, a higher proportion than anywhere else in Europe

Mr Sánchez's choice was in marked contrast to the male-dominated executives of ex-PM Mariano Rajoy, who was ousted last week.

 Spain's new government of 18 is 61.1% women - the highest proportion in the country's history.

Only a handful of countries have governments where at least 50% of ministers are women. They include France, Sweden and Canada.

Women are given some of the biggest jobs including the defence, economy, finance and education portfolios.

Separately, an ex-astronaut has been given the role of science minister.

Mr Sánchez's mix of party colleagues and experienced figures from outside politics is being described in Spain as a "feminist cabinet". In a televised statement, he said his new government was made up of people who "shared the same vision of a progressive society that was both modernising and pro-European".

He spoke of Europe as "our new homeland" and said he saw his cabinet as a faithful reflection of a change in Spain that had emerged on 8 March through a feminist movement. An estimated five million women across the country staged a "feminist strike" on that day against wage inequality and gender violence.

The new prime minister, who is a self-styled feminist, said it marked a watershed moment in Spanish society.

Who's who in the Sánchez government?

One of the biggest jobs has gone to Carmen Calvo, a Socialist who will become deputy prime minister and take charge of a reinstated equality ministry. Some of the other new ministers are:

• María Jesús Montero, a former Andalusia councillor, will be finance minister
• Nadia Calviño, the chief of budget at the EU Commission, will be economy minister
• Dolores Delgado, a prosecutor specialising in anti-terrorism, will be justice minister
• Margarita Robles, a close aide to the prime minister, gets the defence ministry
• Isabel Celáa, a Socialist with long-standing experience in education becomes education minister
• Josep Borrell, the former European Parliament president, will be foreign minister
• Fernando Grande Marlaska, an openly gay magistrate and former high-court judge, becomes interior minister