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President Cyril Ramaphosa, who announced the decision on Wednesday, said the decision was to create a line of leaders who would move the country forward.
"For the first time in the history of our country, half of the ministers are women," Ramaphosa said at a televised news conference.
Patricia de Lille, former Mayor of Cape Town and leader of the Bon political party has been appointed Minister of Public Works. Women must take the oath on Thursday when newly appointed ministers take the oath.
Ramaphosa said he was reducing the number of government ministers from 36 to 28, which is an effort to "reduce" the "bloated government".
While many South Africans applauded the announcement, critics say Ramaphosa has recycled only the same crop of leaders.
Xolani Dube, a political badyst at the Durban-based Xubera Research and Development Institute, said it is commendable that governments are striving to achieve a gender balance, political appointments must be based on merit and performance.
"Many women announced by the president have been here for several decades, and we need to ask ourselves what type of paradigm shift are we looking for in this country," Dube told CNN.
"We need to introduce young women who have a different vision of how South Africa is supposed to be governed at this particular age," he added.
Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, 70, is one of the most powerful politicians in South Africa and has held ministerial posts in various governments since 1994.
She returns as Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs.
Thoko Didiza, who returns to the post of Minister of Agriculture, has held the same position for eight years under former President Thabo Mbeki.
Ramaphosa was re-elected for a second term after his party, the African National Congress (ANC), won a majority of votes in the May general election.
Opposition party leader Mmusi Maimane said the nominations must satisfy Ramaphosa's political interests.
"South Africa deserves at this stage a diversified and competent cabinet that is not a negotiated settlement between factions, but a team of committed people who are ready to move South Africa forward," Maimane said in a statement. .
Maimane said he would appoint a "ghost cabinet" that would hold the government accountable.
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