( CNN ) -- Two weeks into the U.S. government shutdown and , days before a potential default , president Barack Obama has made a last ditch attempt to restore credibility to the world 's largest economy . In nominating Janet Yellen to chair the mighty Federal Reserve , the president has tried to soothe markets already roiled by Washington D.C. 's bickering . Do investors care whether Yellen is a woman ? `` Of course not , '' I hear you cry . What they care about is whether she will print more , cheap money and keep rates low . WATCH MORE : The most powerful woman you 've never heard of . But aside from her immediate leanings on quantitative easing , Yellen 's nomination is an important milestone for female representation in the world of monetary policy . Why ? Because for the first time a woman is being entrusted with the value of not just any currency but the world 's most important reserve and trading currency . Her actions will touch the lives of millions at home and abroad , giving patriarchal societies pause for thought . READ MORE : Horrible way to fill one of world 's most powerful jobs . Women may not be allowed to vote in Saudi Arabia , for instance , but the country 's main export -- oil -- is priced in dollars . Men may dominate the financial sector but for the next four years they will have to hang on a woman 's every word . Yet as influential as she may be , Yellen cuts a lonely figure in the global organogram of central banks , especially in Europe , where both the ECB and the Bank of England are currently bereft of girl power at the top of the tree . A cursory glance at the Central Bank Directory shows just 12 of the world 's 160 central banks had female governors last year . That 's about 6 % . Such figures would not be acceptable on the board of your average listed firm . Last year 15 % of directors at FTSE 100 companies were women while the EU is pushing for boards to raise that quota to 40 % by the end of the decade . READ MORE : Women still missing from Asia boards . Yellen is no ordinary women or economist . She is an extraordinarily experienced , trusted pair of hands who faces a formidable task ahead in trying to wean world markets off five years of basically free money . But in elevating her to its helm , the Fed joins a woefully short list of national banks with female governors that includes not exactly influential countries like Belarus , the Kyrgyz Republic and Samoa . Though her appointment still has to be approved Yellen 's promotion will make her arguably the second most powerful person in the United States . If women can take on a mantle as big as that , surely it 's time they had more of a say in the clubby world of monetary policy .
Janet Yellen has been nominated by President Obama to lead the Federal Reserve . This would make her one of the most powerful women in the world . But it also reveals how few female central bankers there are around the world .