The collateral damage from Dominique Strauss-Kahn’s alleged sexual misconduct isn’t really in the most obvious place. It’s not so much in the division of the IMF world into two sharp leadership camps — the for-European and the anti-European.
As emerging market economies and the developed world spar about the stranglehold of a European on the top job, they seem to have forgotten that the candidacy of Christine Lagarde breaks one big glass ceiling — the grip on the top job by a male. And for that reason alone, countries should bury their differences and back her.
In its 66-year history, IMF has never had a female leader. In Strauss-Kahn’s case, the organisation’s image as a progressive workplace has also taken a beating because it now seems they may not have looked hard enough when it came to his alleged misadventures at the work place.
Put all of that together and the need of the hour may well be silver-haired, 55, female and French. For a start, it’s politically correct given the current spot IMF is in, coupled with the fact that Lagarde’s competence is not in question because she's already doing a good job as France’s finance minister.
Besides, as most studies show, women tend to bring more empathy to the workplace. Mary Robinson, the former president of Ireland, in an interview once said that women tend to be collaborative in nature, which she found far more effective in modern leadership than rule-by-hierarchy.
We all know there are far fewer women in roles of leadership than men. The result of which is women, when they do get the leadership role, tend to work much harder at being good leaders because they know the spotlight is on them and the comparison is a constant. They are also always aware that any slip they make will often be paint-brushed as a reflection on the general ability of women to lead.
The IMF role is a political one; it requires the ability to bring nations together as much as it needs a head for economics or wise allocation of money — the primary role of the fund. Women typically tend to have greater empathy for the fallout of their decisions on social parameters such as health, education and family welfare — all of which are top priorities in troubled Europe as much as in emerging markets.
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A 2008 survey of Americans by Pew Research Centre for Social and Demographic trends revealed that most of them believe women have the right stuff to be political leaders. When it comes to honesty and intelligence — traits they value highly in leaders — the public rate women higher than men.
Still, Lagarde has tests to clear. A French justice body will decide by June 10 whether she abused her powers in a 20-year-old case that she sent to arbitration that resulted in a $550 million award for Bernard Tapie, a supporter of Nicolas Sarkozy. If she fails, her candidacy, no doubt, goes into self-eject mode. While we wait for that, there seems little to suggest we shouldn’t give her a chance. The Strauss-Kahn mess has made one thing very clear — emerging markets have trouble building a consensus because while they have asked for a candidate who is non-European, they have miserably failed to reach an accord on one.
It might be clever at this point to unite for a female candidate, while they use this term in cobbling together a consensus candidate for the next round of nominations. That way, they can eventually claim credit for breaking more than one tradition at IMF
Anjana Menon is executive editor, NDTV Profit. The views expressed here are personal