President Joe Biden’s address to Congress broke a historic glass ceiling on Wednesday, as two women — Vice-President Kamala Harris and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi — sat behind the President for the first time in US history.
The seating arrangement carried a symbolic meaning for the advancement of US women in recent decades, since Harris and Pelosi stand first and second in the presidential line of succession, respectively.
Harris, the first woman and the first Black and Asian person to serve as vice-president, sat to Biden’s right. Pelosi, who became the first woman Speaker of the House of Representatives in 2007, sat to his left.
The women are playing a vital role in the Biden presidency, with Harris as a close adviser and tie-breaker in an evenly divided Senate and Pelosi helping to marshal the President’s legislative agenda through Congress.
