Janet Yellen is about to become the most powerful woman in U.S. history

President Obama is nominating Yellen to replace Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke

Yellen
(Image credit: (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko))

On Wednesday, President Obama is going to officially nominate Federal Reserve Vice Chairwoman Janet Yellen to replace the central bank's chairman, Ben Bernanke, when he steps down in January 2014. This isn't exactly unexpected news: Obama was reportedly considering only two people for the job, and the other one, Larry Summers, dropped out in September.

But just because Yellen's nomination was widely anticipated doesn't mean it's not a big deal. It is. Among other reasons, Yellen will be the Federal Reserve's first chairwoman ever, and perhaps the only woman heading up a central bank in a major economy. (Russia, Malaysia, South Africa, and a handful of other developing nations have female central bankers; the Bank of England and the European Central Bank don't even have a single woman on their policy boards.)

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Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.