Minister (government)

In Commonwealth realm jurisdictions which use the Westminster system of government, ministers are usually required to be members of one of the houses of Parliament or legislature, and are usually from the political party that controls a majority in the lower house of the legislature.

In other jurisdictions—such as Belgium, Mexico, Netherlands,[3][note 1] Philippines, Slovenia, and Nigeria—the holder of a cabinet-level post or other government official is not permitted to be a member of the legislature.

The term minister comes from Middle English, deriving from the Old French word ministre, originally minister in Latin, meaning "servant, attendant", which itself was derived from the word 'minus' meaning "less".

In the Westminster system, these ministers continue to represent their constituency in parliament while being part of the government.

Individuals who are not in parliament may be appointed as a minister, usually in order to bring special skills to the government.

Finland 's first female ministers were brought to Finnish Parliament shortly after the turn of the 20th century. [ 4 ] From left to right: Hedvig Gebhard (1867–1961), member of parliament, and Miina Sillanpää (1866–1952), Minister of Social Affairs, [ 4 ] [ 5 ] in 1910.