michelle w bowman : closing remarks - " gender and career progression " closing remarks by ms michelle w bowman, member of the board of governors of the federal reserve system, at the joint bank of england, federal reserve bank of new york and european central bank conference on “ gender and career progression ”, european central bank, frankfurt am main, 21 october 2019. * * * congratulations on what i have no doubt was a productive and thought - provoking day, though one, i am sure, that also underscored the many remaining challenges for women and minorities in the professions of economics and finance. i want to thank our hosts, the european central bank, who put so much work into making this conference a success, as well as the conference organizers from all three sponsoring institutions — the ecb, federal reserve, and the bank of england. i also want to express my appreciation to the many researchers from universities and from other central banks, as well as the members of women's and minority committees of economics and finance associations from around the world, who are attending the conference in frankfurt. i wish that i could have been there with you to participate in the discussions. i found the conference program to be particularly interesting, and i look forward to federal reserve staff coming back to washington to share what they learned from the research and discussions. at the federal reserve, we greatly value this conference, not only for the interactions that our staff have while they are there, but also when they bring back what they learn and share it with our staff. last year, we had over 200 staff members from across the organization attend summary presentations in dc given by several staff members who had attended the conference in london. in fact, staff in washington had a " watch party " to view the webcast of today's panels. the topics of today's conference, including papers on the promotion of women, the role of culture and institutions, and the dynamics of publishing, conferences, and seminars, will all spur additional conversations and ideas for action among staff at the federal reserve. in my view, central banks have a responsibility to be leaders in addressing diversity and inclusion, not only for our own institutions, but also because of our influence on the profession as a whole. part of the value of this conference is that we, as central banks, can promote the study of these issues and discuss concrete steps that we can take together to address them. certainly, we take diversity and inclusion issues to heart at the federal reserve. 1

washington next fall to attend the third such conference, hosted by the federal reserve. we hope these conferences will inspire further work on these important topics and will highlight the issues that researchers are addressing, and more broadly promote the conversations we are having in the economic and finance professions. thank you for your work, and i look forward to seeing you at the federal reserve next year. 1 1. see www. federalreserve. gov / aboutthefed / diversityinclusion. htm 2 2. www. federalreserve. gov / publications / minority - women - inclusion. htm 2 / 2 bis central bankers'speeches