Most powerful US woman came 'from the kitchen'

By Tony Czuczka Jan 5, 2007, 8:09 GMT

Washington - Nancy Pelosi, the first female speaker of the US House of Representatives, celebrated her rise 'from the kitchen to the Congress' as a victory for women and American ideals of equality.

The left-leaning Democratic from San Francisco became the most powerful elected woman in US government history Thursday as her party took control in Congress after winning November's mid-term elections.

'It's an historic moment for the women of America,' Pelosi, 66, said to applause from her colleagues in the 435-seat lower chamber. 'It is a moment for which we have waited over 200 years.'

Pelosi stands behind only the vice president in the line of succession to the presidency.

In a telephone call Thursday, President George W Bush congratulated Pelosi, calling her election as speaker 'a tremendous moment for you personally.'

A mother of five who married her husband 43 years ago and entered politics after a career as a homemaker, Pelosi thanked her family for 'the confidence they gave me to go from the kitchen to the Congress.'

She noted her Roman Catholic faith and Italian-American roots.

Although Pelosi entered politics relatively late in life, she came from a powerful Democratic family in the East Coast city of Baltimore, Maryland, a major seaport, where her father and brother both served as mayor. Her father also served in Congress in the 1930s and '40s.

Unlike many countries around the world, the United States has not elected a woman to its highest political office. Two women have been appointed secretary of state, the highest cabinet post in the US government: Madeleine Albright from 1997-2001 and Condoleezza Rice since 2005.

Pelosi, minority leader in the House since 2003, has led her party's opposition to the Iraq war in the House and wants to roll back Bush's tax cuts. She strongly backs abortion rights.

She won easy re-election in November in her California district, as Democrats recaptured control of the House and Senate for the first time in 12 years.

'For our daughters and our granddaughters now, the sky is the limit. Anything is possible for them,' she said after the centre-left Democratic majority elected her House speaker.

Pelosi is known for keeping Democrats disciplined and on-message. Yet she was little-known to average Americans before her rise to the speakership.

Like most House Democrats, she voted against authorizing US military force in Iraq and has called Bush's decision to invade a 'grotesque mistake.'