Gender equality campaigners called for the first female Bank of England Governor in more than 300 years on Thursday to help address a lack of women in economics.
The Treasury has formally launched the hunt for a replacement for Mark Carney, to take up the £480,000 role next February.
Sam Smethers, chief executive of the Fawcett Society campaigning charity, said: “As well as putting more women on bank notes, including women of colour, let’s have a woman in the top job.”
Academic Victoria Bateman - who recently protested naked on television against Brexit - said the post should go to “the best person for the job - regardless of gender”.
But she added: “I would like to imagine a future in which it wasn’t a rarity for women to take the lead at central banks... At present, there is a real paucity of women at all levels in economics.”
Rachel Reeves, chair of the Business Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee, called for a gender-balanced shortlist. The MP said: “There have been 120 Governors of the Bank of England and none have been women. It’s high time the Government ended this trend.”
