Inside IMF: Female staff call for a woman at helm

[oberliner]

Source: CNN

(CNN) -- As the International Monetary Fund (IMF) prepares to replace its disgraced former managing director Dominique Strauss-Kahn, e-mails obtained exclusively by CNN offer a unique insight into the mood among staff.

While Strauss-Kahn was busy penning a heartfelt goodbye letter sent out on Sunday, documents reveal some of the fund's female employees had already been calling for change: namely, for a woman to run the IMF.

Strauss-Kahn resigned last week as head of the IMF in the face of sexual assault charges. In a note to staff, obtained by CNN, the economist said he is confident of being exonerated of accusations that he attacked a hotel maid in New York, but he could not "accept that the Fund -- and you dear colleagues -- should in any way have to share my own personal nightmare. So, I had to go."

The fund is scheduled to begin accepting nominations for his replacement, with a battle shaping up between Europe and the developing world. The United Kingdom said over the weekend it would back French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde for the position; a move that will likely appeal to women at staff at the IMF, who complained in e-mails obtained by CNN of the male culture at the global economic organization.

Read more: http://edition.cnn.com/2011/BUSINESS/05/24/imf.women.change.chief/

[liberation]

1. I'd just settle for a non-sociopath at the helm of that den of snakes,

or better yet, a liquidator which is what that organization deserves.

The gender of such person is irrelevant...

[oberliner]

4. Could be symbolically significant though

Like a woman president for instance.

[Hubert Flottz]

2. She'd prolly turn out to be a slut!

Nothing good will ever come of the IMF, IMHO.

[oberliner]

3. What the heck?

If that is meant to be satire, I don't quite get the point you are making.

[BOG PERSON]

5. what about a non-european lady instead?

[oberliner]

6. Do you have a particular person in mind?

If you do, whom are you thinking of?

[BOG PERSON]

7. the only non-euro female economist i know of is jayati ghosh

who wrote this opinion piece for the Guardian. she is not exactly IMF material though.

For more than 60 years now convention, rather than any written rules, has dictated that the appointment of heads of the Bretton Woods institutions has been controlled by the traditional global powers. The US has provided the chief of the World Bank and Europe has provided the head of the IMF. These "conventions" emerged and were entrenched during a period when these two broad groupings controlled the global economy, and polity.

That is much less clear today. The medium-term future of the world economy is unlikely to be scripted only by these two players. Before the emergency exit of Dominique Strauss-Kahn had rendered the choice of the next head of the IMF an urgent matter, it was common to hear voices from developed countries suggesting that the next person to be in charge could and should be someone from the developing world. There is certainly no shortage of suitable candidates with sufficient international experience and knowledge of the workings of international finance.

In this context, the speed and strength of insistence with which European countries are pushing for a particular European candidate is notable. Even the support of the UK prime minister, David Cameron, for Lagarde cannot simply be ascribed to his dislike of Gordon Brown. The reason is not just because of European governments' perceived desire to retain some semblance of control over global institutions. It is also because the major immediate work of the IMF is to do with Europe: several European countries are involved in economic rescue packages worked out with the European Union, the European Central Bank, and the IMF – and others are likely to be waiting in the queue.

The argument being made is that since European countries are likely to be involved in bailout packages in the immediate future, it is especially important to have a European to head the Fund. Yet this was precisely the argument used – by Europeans – against having a person from the developing world to lead the institution: that debtor countries could not and should not provide the leadership because of possible conflicts of interest! Once European debtor countries are involved, apparently the inverse logic holds.

[LeftishBrit]

8. I'd settle for someone who didn't regard massive cuts and kicking poor people when they're down as

the solution to every financial problem that a country can have.

As regards good female possibilities - what about Gro Harlem Bruntlandt, Helen Clark, or Michele Bachelet?

[w4rma]

9. Do.Not.Care.

The policy is what matters, not the sex.