The first Kuwaiti female minister, Mubarak, and Communications Minister Sheikh Ahmad react to cheers from the audience in the Kuwaiti Parliament. The first Kuwaiti female minister, Massouma al-Mubarak (R), and Communications Minister Sheikh Ahmad al-Abdullah al-Sabah react to cheers from the audience on her first official day of work in the Kuwaiti Parliament June 20, 2005. Mubarak was appointed minister of planning and administrative development, a portfolio previously held by Sheikh Ahmad, on June 12, 2005, less than a month after Kuwait gave women the vote, a key plank in its democratic reforms. Some members of parliament tried to disrupt her speech with loud shouts of opposition but she continued amid the loud screaming and was cheered on by audience members, including her two daughters who were watching the session. REUTERS/Stephanie McGehee