One of Belgium's new ministers, Vanessa Matz (Les Engagés), "does not agree" with the reduced presence of four women for 11 men in the new Federal Government.
The women nominated by the various parties in the 'Arizona' Government are "high-quality women" who "will be able to influence decisions," said Matz, who is the new Minister for Public Modernisation in charge of Public Enterprises.
However, the absence of women on the core cabinet (the PM and the five deputies is "not normal," she said on BelRTL. "The parties have not done their job."
'Done its bit'
The Flemish socialist Vooruit party did not nominate a woman for a ministerial position, while the two largest parties (Flemish rightwing N-VA and Francophone liberal MR) only nominated one each – despite having four ministers.
"We impose a whole series of quotas, which are legitimate, in institutions such as local authorities. Why isn't there at least a quota in the Council of Ministers?" asked Matz. "It's a step we have to take. You have to force it so that it happens naturally afterwards."
Later, the new Energy Minister Mathieu Bihet (MR) stressed that his party had always "done its bit" by appointing female ministers in the Walloon Region and the Wallonia-Brussels Federation, and by proposing the first female Prime Minister in the history of Belgium, Sophie Wilmès.
The complete Arizona government only has four women. In this first official photo, literally standing in the shadow of the men. Credit: Belga/Jasper Jacob
He described the all-male composition of the core cabinet, the restricted Council of Ministers that brings together the deputy prime ministers, as a "coincidence."
This body "where the most sensitive decisions are taken" has the advantage of being made up of the people who were closest to the negotiations on the government agreement, said Bihet.
Male-dominated era not over
The Flemish green party Groen is seeking to enshrine a guarantee of gender representation within the government in the Constitution. The Ecolo-Groen group introduced a revision proposal in the Parliament on Tuesday.
"We assumed the era of male-dominated governments was over," said Federal MP Meyrem Almaci (Groen). "However, the De Wever government necessitates this measure. The 'Arizona' parties managed to form a government with only four women and 11 men in 2025."
The Constitution mandate from 2002 specifies that a government cannot be all-male or all-female. Technically, having just one member from the opposite sex suffices. Preparatory works, however, allow governments the freedom to ensure a higher degree of gender representation, a practice some federal entities adopted.
In the Walloon and the Federation Wallonie-Bruxelles governments, at least one-third of ministers must be of a different gender. The greens now aim to extend this rule to all governments in the country.
