India’s parliament on Wednesday elected a former diplomat from the lowest rung of Hinduism’s rigid caste ladder, the dalits or untouchables, as the first woman speaker of the often unruly male-dominated legislature.

Gracious: Meira Kumar was born an ‘untouchable’

Meira Kumar, a 64-year-old five-term parliament member and former minister of social justice, was elected with support from both the ruling Congress and the opposition Bharatiya Janata party in a rare show of consensus within the often bitterly divided chamber.