Half of all new Queensland government appointments are required to be women for the next three years.
Women and Youth Minister Shannon Fentiman insists new cabinet rules, directing ministers to ensure 50 per cent of people they appoint to boards and departments are women, don't constitute a quota.
"It's still a target, but a target with teeth," she said.
Ms Fentiman confirmed the new cabinet rules were separate to the Palaszcuzk government's target of having women making up half of all government boards by 2020.
"The government is really leading the way here and encouraging industry to do the same," she added.
Opposition Leader Lawrence Springborg said the government had merely adopted the former premier Peter Beattie's target for gender balance on government boards, which had failed.
"It will be interesting to see if the premier is able to achieve that," he said.
"I think Labor talks a lot around equal opportunity, but when it comes to delivering around equal opportunity they don't."
