Spain’s junior defense minister arrives
ALI DIA/AFP/Getty Images Spain’s defense minister Carme Chacón, who was seven months pregnant when she was appointed, gave birth today to a 6-pound baby boy. The interior minister has temporarily taken over her portfolio, but it seems unlikely that she will take the full four-month maternity leave afforded to her by Spanish law. Photos of ...
ALI DIA/AFP/Getty Images
Spain’s defense minister Carme Chacón, who was seven months pregnant when she was appointed, gave birth today to a 6-pound baby boy. The interior minister has temporarily taken over her portfolio, but it seems unlikely that she will take the full four-month maternity leave afforded to her by Spanish law. Photos of the pregnant Chacón touring military bases in Afghanistan, Lebanon, and Bosnia in recent weeks have become visual emblems of Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero’s push for gender equality in government.
I hope Silvio Berlusconi at least sent a card.
Joshua Keating is a former associate editor at Foreign Policy. Twitter: @joshuakeating
More from Foreign Policy

Chinese Hospitals Are Housing Another Deadly Outbreak
Authorities are covering up the spread of antibiotic-resistant pneumonia.

Henry Kissinger, Colossus on the World Stage
The late statesman was a master of realpolitik—whom some regarded as a war criminal.

The West’s False Choice in Ukraine
The crossroads is not between war and compromise, but between victory and defeat.

The Masterminds
Washington wants to get tough on China, and the leaders of the House China Committee are in the driver’s seat.