King Hamad bin Issa al-Khalifa appointed Bahrain's first woman minister and the Arab world's first female health minister on Wednesday.
Nada Haffadh, a member of the kingdom's Shura (consultative) council, takes over from Khalil Hassan, the official Bahrain News Agency reported.
Haffadh, who trained as a doctor at Cairo University, has held several posts at the health ministry and is an adviser to the World Health Organisation and UNICEF, the United Nations children's fund.
"I am honoured to be the first woman to enter the government," Haffadh told AFP on Tuesday ahead of the official announcement.
"I am also honoured to be the first woman in the Arab world to hold the health ministry portfolio, which is of major importance," she said.
"My priority will be to find a cure for the disappointments of civil servants because in my view the ministry cannot move forward and provide good services to citizens if its employees are disappointed."
Women voted for the first time in Bahrain during a 2001 referendum on constitutional reforms that saw the restoration of parliament following elections in October 2002.
Conservative Gulf Arab states are moving steadily towards more democratic forms of government, despite resistance from Islamic traditionalists.
Haffadh, born in 1957, is the third woman to be made a minister in the Gulf Arab states.