Kamala Harris: Who is the first female vice president of the USA?

On 20 January 2021, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris were officially inaugurated as the president and vice president of the United States.

They beat Donald Trump in the US presidential election that took place in November 2020.

It's a historic moment because Ms Harris is now the most senior woman politician in US history.

She is the first woman vice president and the first black and South Asian American to ever take on that job.

So let's find out more about her!

Joe Biden (left) chose Kamala Harris (right) as his vice president

Who is Kamala Harris and where did she grow up?

Kamala Harris was born in Oakland, California to an Indian mother and Jamaican father. Her parents were both immigrants.

They later divorced and Ms Harris was raised by her Hindu mother, who was a cancer researcher and civil rights activist.

Her Indian heritage was a big part of her life growing up and she visited India with her mum.

However, her mother also made sure Kamala and her sister Maya soaked up and were proud of Oakland's black culture too.

Kamala Harris and her sister, Maya Lakshmi Harris, are close

"She knew that her adopted homeland would see Maya and me as black girls and she was determined to make sure we would grow into confident, proud black women," Harris wrote about her mother in her autobiography, The Truths We Hold.

Ms Harris says she's always been comfortable with her identity and simply describes herself as "an American".

She later studied law at Howard University, which is one of America's most famous historically black universities.

In 2003, Ms Harris became the district attorney for the city of San Francisco, and then went on to become California's attorney general, which is the top lawyer and law enforcement official in the state. She was the first black person to serve in the position.

What does Kamala Harris stand for?

Before entering politics, Kamala Harris was a successful lawyer in the US

In 2019, Harris launched her own campaign to become the Democratic Party's nominee for president but she eventually lost that race to Joe Biden.

However, the 55-year-old was then chosen by Mr Biden to be his vice-president and running mate in the US 2020 election.

Ms Harris tweeted that Mr Biden "can unify the American people because he's spent his life fighting for us. And as president, he'll build an America that lives up to our ideals."

She has spoken out on issues including systematic racism, police brutality and the criminal justice system.

However, she has faced some criticism from people who thought she didn't do enough during her time as California's attorney general to fix these problems.

Why is Kamala being vice president a big deal?

Only two other women have been nominated as vice-presidential candidates for a major party - Sarah Palin by the Republican party in 2008 and Geraldine Ferraro by the Democrats in 1984. Neither ended up on the winning team in the election.

A woman of colour has never been chosen as a presidential or vice-presidential candidate by either of the two main American political parties. The US has never had a woman as president.

After Joe Biden and Kamala Harris beat Donald Trump, it meant Ms Harris made history once again as the first woman to become vice-president of United States.