ministras

Ministras is a term used in several Romance languages to refer to female ministers or to a group of ministers who are women. In Spanish, the feminine form of minister is ministra, and the plural ministras refers to more than one woman serving in ministerial roles, as in las ministras de Educación y Sanidad. In Portuguese, ministra likewise denotes a female minister, with ministras as the plural. These forms are used in official contexts and news reporting to specify the gender of the officeholder.

In languages with gendered noun systems, the male counterpart is ministro in Spanish and ministro in Portuguese, with the plural ministros and ministros. The feminine pair ministra/ministras is commonly used where gender distinction is relevant, though some contexts may emphasize gender-neutral language or employ titles without gender marking.

Etymology traces ministras to the Latin word minister, meaning a servant or official attendant, which evolved into the modern concept of a government minister in many Romance languages. The distinction between minister and ministera or ministra reflects historical grammatical gender rather than a different role, and the term ultimately designates a person heading a ministry or holding a ministerial office.

See also: Minister, Ministry, Government, Gender in language, Political representation.