I would like to briefly comment on two events that happened recently, which display how far we still have to go to achieve gender equality, not only but also in central banking. #PersonalThread 1/7

The first concerned our recent announcement of a “Women in Macroeconomics & Finance” conference, which the @ecb organises with @cepr_org in November, which will include only female speakers in the programme, while men may join as listeners. 2/7 https://mailchi.mp/cepr/cepr-call-for-papers-we-are-in-macroeconomics-finance-2021-507033

Such conferences have become common in recent years, especially in fields where women are underrepresented, as in macro & finance. They give visibility to women – either to senior women as role models or to junior women to promote them, and they facilitate network formation. 3/7

I was surprised to see some quite negative reactions to our announcement, both on social media and in the press, arguing that we – as a public institution – would not be allowed to positively discriminate in that way. I strongly disagree with that view. 4/7

As a public institution, we have promised to foster gender equality @ecb, and this conference is an excellent way to do this. As a public institution, we are obliged to take measures that help to mitigate underrepresentation. 5/7 https://www.ecb.europa.eu/careers/why-we-value-diversity/women/html/index.en.html

The 2nd event was the critical reaction by some to Christine @Lagarde's excellent response to a question asked during today’s press conference that seemed to have a misogynist undertone. Her answer clearly wasn’t a political statement but an expression of solidarity. 6/7

Conclusion: Both occurrences show to me that much more needs to be done to achieve gender equality, and I am very happy that people like Christine Lagarde are standing up for this. Thanks to everybody who is doing the same in spite of the hostility. 7/7 https://www.ecb.europa.eu/press/key/date/2020/html/ecb.sp200928~97c7e2ba27.en.html