Twitter celebrates as first female VP Kamala Harris swears in first female Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen

Governor of Kenya’s Central Bank tweets that Ms Yellen is 'great economist and human being’

Gustaf Kilander

Washington, DC

Tuesday 26 January 2021 15:25 EST

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Twitter users celebrated the historic nature of the first female vice president, Kamala Harris, swearing-in Janet Yellen, the first woman to serve as Treasury Secretary.

Ms Yellen was confirmed by the Senate with large bipartisan support, 84 to 15.

When she was sworn in, Ms Yellen became the first woman to have held all three top economic jobs in American government after also having served as the chair of the Federal Reserve and the Council of Economic Advisors, The New York Times writes.

She comes into the job in the middle of a severe economic crisis, with the unemployed numbering in the millions and recovery stumbling as the pandemic digs in its heels. Ms Yellen took the oath of office with her husband and son, both economists, by her side.

Congress and the White House have entered negotiations regarding President Joe Biden's $1.9-trillion Covid relief package, negotiations Ms Yellen will help steer. But the path for relief to be passed is narrow and fraught; with Republicans unlikely to do much to cooperate and with the filibuster still in place, Democrats don't have the votes to pass a big bill any time soon without resorting to using the process of budget reconciliation.

Twitter users celebrated the historic moment.

Pamela Herd, a colleague of Ms Yellen's husband George Akerlof at Georgetown University, tweeted that she was "delighted".

New York congresswoman and chair of the House Oversight Committee Carolyn Maloney tweeted that "glass ceilings are shattering all over".

Arizona congresswoman Ann Kirkpatrick tweeted:

The Governor of the Central Bank of Kenya, Patrick Njoroge, tweeted at Ms Yellen is "a great economist and human being."

NYU Law professor Melissa Murray tweeted:

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