How women got a seat at Fed's Jackson Hole under CEO Esther George

Nationwide, there are about three males for every female economics major, based on research by Harvard University

Since 1972, the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City’s annual symposium has gathered distinguished titans of academia to chew over the toughest economic questions of the day.

Up until about 2010, those sage presenters were largely — often exclusively — men.

Esther George, who took the reins at the regional Fed bank in 2011, has changed that. She’s brought more gender-diverse programs to the gathering in Jackson Hole, and this year, seven of 21 speakers and leaders on the conference programme are women. She also gathers female conference participants informally during the conference. They used to meet around a table