NICOLA Sturgeon has been hailed by equality campaigners for "shattering one of the toughest glass ceilings in public life" after unveiling Scotland's first Cabinet that boasts an equal number of men and women.

In one of her first acts as First ­Minister, Ms Sturgeon replaced men and handed responsibility to Shona Robison and Angela Constance in the health and education departments, two of the most high-profile areas of the Scottish Government.

Kenny MacAskill and Michael Russell were major departures, removed from their jobs in charge of justice and education respectively. John Swinney retained the finance brief and was named Deputy First Minister.

Ms Sturgeon said she was keen to "lead by example" in promoting equality and she hoped the make-up of her first Cabinet would encourage businesses and public-sector bodies to do more to achieve gender balance in the workplace.

If wider ministerial appointments are taken into account, the number of women in the Government now exceeds 40 per cent for the first time.

Alexandra Runswick, director of the Unlock Democracy campaign group, said the First Minister had thrown down the gauntlet to other political leaders, including Prime Minister David Cameron, who had failed to back up their rhetoric on equal representation with meaningful action.

Ms Runswick, whose organisation co-founded the Counting Women In campaign backing 50-50 gender representation at all levels of politics, said: "This is a really positive step forward for Scottish politics and shows what can be achieved when there is the political will.

"Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP have sent a clear message to other parties across the UK about the type of politics they want in Scotland. All party leaders will say they want to see more women in positions of power, but what you have to look at is what they are doing about it. Scotland has been leading the way on this - we've had female leaders of parties in the way we haven't in the wider UK - and it's good to see Scotland continue to push ahead."

The First Minister said that while her new team was appointed on merit, she was "very pleased" that the make-up of her first Cabinet reflected her "very strong commitment" to promoting gender balance.

In the previous Cabinet, under Alex Salmond, four out of ten members were women. However, Mr Salmond's successor was the only female to run a department with a significant budget.

Fiona Mackay, a politics professor at Edinburgh University who has written extensively about the role of women in politics, said the Cabinet announcement was a "breakthrough moment".

She said: "Nicola Sturgeon will have recognised the powerful symbolism of selecting a 50-50 Cabinet - the ­shattering of one of the toughest glass ceilings in public life. Scotland is not classed as a national government in comparative terms so doesn't figure in world politics rankings. But if it did, it would currently be second only to Sweden in terms of percentages of women in Cabinet, and way out ahead of the UK Cabinet, where less than one in four … is female."

The United Nations organisation set up to promote gender equality welcomed the move. Begona Lasagabaster, acting head of UN Women's Policy Division, said: "First Minister Sturgeon has formed a role-model Cabinet for others to emulate."

Despite a gender-equal Cabinet, there remains a minority of women in almost all areas of Scottish political life.

Little more than one-fifth of Scots MPs are women, compared to 24 per cent of councillors and 35 per cent of MSPs. While 45 per cent of Labour's MSPs are female, only about one-­quarter of the SNP's are.

Labour MSP Jackie Baillie, who has been leading her party at Holyrood, said: "I welcome the fact that there is a balance of 50-50 between women and men in the top posts. Having listened to the First Minister's call for consensus, I look forward to them supporting Labour's policies to tackle the many problems their predecessors have left."