Who runs the world? Janet Yellen. Yesterday the Senate confirmed Yellen, 67, as the new chairperson of the Federal Reserve. She succeeds Ben Bernanke, who she has served under as vice chair since 2010. She's also the first woman to serve as Fed Chair in the central bank's 100-year history.
Prior to her position at the Fed, Yellen served as chair of the Council of Economic Advisers under President Bill Clinton and as president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco from 2004 until President Obama nominated her to the position of vice chair.
Even though we'd hate to make the rise of such a qualified person all about gender, it's worth noting that her confirmation is especially worthy of celebration because, as the Washington Post's Ezra Klein wrote earlier this year, there was a subtle, sexist whispering campaign waged to keep her from getting the nomination. Klein says Yellen was often talked about as highly qualified and very knowledgeable on monetary policy, but lacking "toughness" and "gravitas" and other characteristics that tend to be more rewarded in men than women, and thus more prevalent among men than women. And since every Fed Chair in history has been male, having those characteristics has become a defacto prerequisite, even though Yellen is abundantly qualified for the role for other reasons.
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