Hitherto, the study of women’s profiles in national cabinets has received scarce scholarship attention. Two gaps are especially salient. First, we know very little about the relationship between cabinet members’ credentials and portfolio allocations. Second, the explanation of the consequences of gendered appointments is totally unexplored. The main research question of this paper is: How do women’s profile and experience in office affect their tenure and subsequent career? Using data from 23 advance industrial democracies, I seek to examine the existing gender differences in ministers’ profiles and routes to political office. I also analyse how their background affects the portfolio allocation within cabinets as well as the ministers’ subsequent career trajectory. Based on existing literature, it is expected that those portfolios which have traditionally been considered “female portfolios” are more likely to be suppressed in mid-term government reshuffles and that their holders might have fewer probabilities to build networks in politics or in the labour market.