Christine Lagarde: Interview with Yomiuri Shimbun

Detailed summary

The European Central Bank (ECB) is the central bank of the European Union countries which have adopted the euro. Our main task is to maintain price stability in the euro area and so preserve the purchasing power of the single currency.

On the glass ceiling and women in power – could you share your own experiences for Japanese women, not least because you know their situation as well?

I discussed this topic a lot with Prime Minister Abe and his wife. He was determined to make a change for Japan at the time, and he had this programme called “One Million Women”. He got one million additional women into the workplace by implementing quite a few policies that were really helpful, like giving more freedom to the municipalities to open childcare centres.

So thanks to Prime Minister Abe things changed a lot. And it helped women access positions of professional responsibility.

At the ECB you became the first female leader. Did you have any difficulties or challenges in terms of being the first woman to lead the ECB?

Opening of the article, excerpted from Banque centrale européenne. To read the rest, open the article on the publisher's site.