New €5 coin to commemorate Belgium's first female minister

The Royal Belgian Mint is issuing a new €5 coin this week that commemorates the country's first female minister, Margueritte De Riemaecker-Legot, who joined Belgian politics 50 years ago. Finance minister Johan Van Overtveldt will mint the first coin on Wednesday.

"Politics in the first half of the 20th century was almost exclusively male-dominated. It was not until 1948 that women got the right to vote in parliamentary and provincial elections," recalls the FPS Economy.

And it was not until 1965 that Belgium welcomed its first woman minister. De Riemaecker-Legot, who joined the government under Belgium's 40th prime minister Pierre Harmel, was responsible for family and housing.