The European Central Bank (ECB) starts a new era on Friday when Christine Lagarde becomes the institution’s first female President -- and for now its sole female policy maker.
She will be the only woman on the Governing Council for the next few weeks, until Sabine Lautenschlaegers successor is appointed to the Executive Board.
The ECB designs and implements euro-zone monetary policy. Lagarde is used to it though -- she already blazed a trail as the first woman to become French finance minister, and the first to run the International Monetary Fund (IMF).