Nearly four years into Janet Yellen’s history-making turn as the first woman to lead the Federal Reserve, the economy is growing, the unemployment rate is low and the stock market is setting record highs.
President Donald Trump says Yellen is a “spectacular person” and doing a “terrific job.” But he’s not offering her a second term, making her the first Fed chair in nearly 40 years not to be asked back.
Some are questioning why the president is moving aside the glass-ceiling-shattering economist.
“You have to guess gender has something to do with this,” said Heidi Hartmann, president of the Institute for Women’s Policy Research. “I would hazard a guess that most Fed leaders who have done as well as Janet have not been replaced.”
Hartmann, an economist who pushed for Yellen’s appointment, added that former chair Alan Greenspan “managed to transcend parties. Why can’t Janet?”
