It shouldn’t be a shock that it took more than 200 years for Congress to select a female to the post of Speaker of the House of Representatives.

After all, a Fox News piece from this week eloquently states, the United States isn’t exactly at the forefront when it comes to women in politics.

In fact, women make up a larger share of the national legislature in 79 other countries, including China, Cuba, North Korea and Vietnam. The U.S. even trails a couple of fledgling democracies: Afghanistan and Iraq.

“When my colleagues elect me as speaker, we will not just break through a glass ceiling, we will break through a marble ceiling,” said Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) before taking the position last Thursday.

“In more than 200 years of history, there was an established pecking order - and I cut in line. We have waited more than 200 years for this time to come. But we did not just wait, we worked.”

She alluded to one of the reasons women have been slow to climb the ladder, saying federal policy has never recognized women’s need for child care.

“This Congress is going to be about children,” she said.

For an interesting point of reference, there were 22 women in the House when Pelosi was first elected to her California district in 1987. It’s appropriate that there are now a record 71 female representatives - 16 percent of the states - with Pelosi presiding over the House.

Some analysts believe the biggest obstacle women face is not gender, but simple lack of opportunity. It’s no secret that - especially after Tom DeLay and his redistricting - most incumbents who run are re-elected. It becomes harder and harder for new faces to break through.

But when women decide to run for office, and hold it, they have proven just as successful as men, according to experts who study the issue.

However, women are much less likely to run in the first place, and one big reason is child care. Women are much more likely to be responsible for the care of their children, which doesn’t always fit into the usually chaotic schedule of a member of Congress.

Richard Fox, professor of political science at Union College in New York, conducted an extensive survey of women in professions that produce many lawmakers: education, business and the law.

He worked on the study with Jennifer Lawless, a political science professor at Brown University who ran for Congress this year, losing the Democratic primary in Rhode Island to incumbent Rep. James Langevin.

Among their conclusions:

• Women are less likely than men to be asked to run for office by party leaders and other officials.
• When women are asked to run, they are just as likely as men to do it.
• Women are more likely than men to think they are unqualified to serve, even when they have the same qualifications as male candidates.

“A man can wake up one morning, look in the mirror and say, ‘By God, I would be the best state legislator that Nebraska has ever seen,’” said Debbie Walsh, director of the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University. “Men don’t need to be asked.”

Rep. Jeanette Rankin, R-Mont., was the first woman elected to Congress, in 1916, four years before the 19th Amendment gave women the right to vote (women could already vote in Montana).

Before 1970, more than 40 percent of the women in Congress gained office by succeeding their dead husbands. Since then, fewer than 10 percent have followed their husbands, according to data collected by Dennis Simon, a political science professor at Southern Methodist University.

The number of women in Congress has grown slowly, with the biggest jump coming in 1992, the “Year of the Woman,” when it nearly doubled, to 54.

Pelosi, 66, grew up in politics as the daughter and sister of Baltimore mayors. But she waited until her youngest daughter was in high school before she ran for Congress, a path followed by many women.

Women are, on average, older than men when they are first elected to Congress, giving them less time to rise in leadership, which is based largely on seniority.

Pelosi has embraced her role as the first female speaker as Democrats control the House for the first time since 1995, but wants to be judged by the same standards as the 51 men who came before her.

“I have always asked my colleagues to judge me by the quality of my leadership and the results we achieve together, not as the first woman,” Pelosi said.

But she isn’t oblivious to the history she’s making:

“Becoming the first woman speaker will send a message to young girls and women across the country that anything is possible for them, that women can achieve power, wield power and breathe the air at that altitude. As the first woman speaker of the House, I will work to make certain that I will not be the last.”