Women have since obtained greater representation in the public sphere. According to the Inter-Parliamentary Union, 30% of seats in Somalia's Federal Parliament are legally reserved for women. This quota was secured by Somali parliamentary consultant Hodan Ahmed and other female political leaders. Ahmed had also helped form the Somali Women Parliamentary Association in 2009 in the preceding Transitional Federal Parliament. In November 2012, Prime Minister Shirdon likewise appointed two women to the Cabinet, Fowsiyo Yussuf Haji Aadan as the nation's first female Minister of Foreign Affairs and Maryam Qassim as Minister of Social Development.