More Than A Magazine, A Movement
I remember what Stacey Abrams told me: “There are few things as dangerous as a woman with a plan and the perseverance to execute.” By that metric, Janet Yellen is as dangerous as it gets.
“Economics isn’t just something you find in a textbook. I believe economic policy can be a potent tool to improve society. We can—and should—use it to address inequality, racism, and climate change.”
In nominating Janet Yellen to be the next treasury secretary of the United States and tasking her to oversee the biggest economy in the world, President-Elect Joe Biden named the first woman ever appointed to the position.
“The value of work always stuck with me. So much so that I became an economist because I was concerned about the toll of unemployment on people, families and communities. And I’ve spent my career trying to make sure people can work and achieve the dignity and self-worth that comes with it,” Yellen said on Dec. 1, accepting her nomination in a moving speech.
In every issue of Ms., we track research on our progress in the fight for equality, catalogue can’t-miss quotes from feminist voices and keep tabs on the feminist movement’s many milestones. We’re Keeping Score online, too—in in this biweekly round-up.
This week: Meghan Markle opens up about her miscarriage; the pope critiques the U.S. Supreme Court’s pandemic response; Biden announces Cabinet appointees; Janet Yellen is nominated as first woman Treasury Secretary; Scotland passes the Period Products Bill; Rep. Katherine Clark elected assistant speaker of the House; trans woman and former sex worker Elisa Crespo runs for NYC Council; and more.
The selection of Janet Yellen as the first woman to serve at the helm of Treasury and oversee the biggest economy in the world is noteworthy. But Yellen’s appointment is in keeping with research that shows women are especially likely to be selected for leadership in the middle of crises. Is she being set up to fail?
Weekend Reading for Women’s Representation is a compilation of stories about women’s representation.
This week: the impact that elected women have in legislative bodies; wins for women in the 2020 election; tipping the gender balance in Congress; Moldova has elected their first woman president; Alaska voters approve ranked-choice voting; the Biden-Harris administration must appoint a gender-balanced Cabinet; the women President-Elect Biden is considering for his administration; the Nevada state legislature will be 60 percent women in 2021; and suggested feminist reading.
A significant number of women are being considered for key economic slots in the Biden administration, including as secretaries of Treasury, Commerce and Labor.
A financial system funded by the public for the public good, could create money as a utility for all of us on Main Street, instead of what we have now—The Fed, a profit center for the richest few on Wall Street.
It is imperative that Economics embrace diversity in its ranks—for the field, for the country and for women.
Although the Great Recession can surely not be understood to have been a positive time for women in the workforce, it demonstrated the resiliency and importance of women in the U.S. economy. But the recovery told a different story.
Now that President Obama has made it very clear that current Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will not be reappointed in 2014, the question on every economy wonk’s mind is, […]
