Iran's new President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad appointed a woman as a Vice-President, Iranian media reported.
Fatemeh Javadi was appointed as Vice-President and Head of the Environment Protection Organization, state radio said.
Ahmadinejad has been accused of being a hardliner, but Javadi's appointment means that he is following the footsteps of his predecessor, President Mohammad Khatami, a reformist who appointed a woman as vice-president in his two presidential terms.
Javadi holds a doctorate in geology and is currently teaching at the University of Shiraz in southern Iran. She is expected to be the only female in the Iranian cabinet and will replace Massoumeh Ebtekar, who was the only women in the cabinet of Khatami.
Ahmadinejad is expected to appoint nine Vice-Presidents, including one first Vice-President. Unlike cabinet members who hold specific ministerial portfolios, they are not subject to parliamentary approval.
In another development, the Tehran City Council appointed Mohammad Bagher Qalbaf as the new mayor of the capital.
Qalibaf, who ran against Ahmadinejad in the first round of the presidential elections in June, was appointed to the position that Ahmadinejad had occupied before becoming president.