How can we empower women to aim high? ECB President Christine Lagarde and Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, talk about this and share their personal experiences as female leaders in the latest episode of The ECB Podcast hosted by Michael Steen. The views expressed are those of the speakers and not necessarily those of the European Central Bank. Published on 8 March 2021 and recorded on 4 March 2021. In this episode: 01:44 – Female leadership Why female leadership is important, why women are central to good and effective leadership during crisis times, why more gender parity is beneficial to all of us and how we can achieve it. 10:14 – Path to leadership What the driving forces were on Christine Lagarde’s and Ursula von der Leyen’s paths to leadership, how they dealt with obstacles, what gave them confidence and to carry on, and what role childcare can have for women on their career paths. 26:15 – Fighting stereotypes and gender biases How Christine Lagarde and Ursula von der Leyen were confronted with biases and stereotypes, how they dealt with those situations, and they came out stronger from difficult situations. 34:55 – Impact of the coronavirus crisis on gender equality How the coronavirus crisis has disproportionally affected women, what the positive and negative effects of working remotely could be over the long-term, and what we can do for a better work-life balance for everyone. 41:55 – Goals for gender equality in the future What their goals are for gender equality in the future, what advice they would give themselves to better deal with obstacles and hurdles and what they #ChooseToChallenge to encourage better gender equality. Further reading: Christine Lagarde: Choose to challenge women’s roles at home, at work and in our society https://www.ecb.europa.eu/press/blog/date/2021/html/ecb.blog210308~e7a735f961.en.html Harvard Business Review: Women are better leaders during a crisis https://hbr.org/2020/12/research-women-are-better-leaders-during-a-crisis Women in economics scholarship https://www.ecb.europa.eu/careers/what-we-offer/wecs/html/index.en.html Women@ECB https://www.ecb.europa.eu/careers/why-we-value-diversity/women/html/index.en.html European Central Bank www.ecb.europa.eu You can also listen to The ECB Podcast on SoundCloud, Spotify, Deezer, Stitcher, YouTube, Amazon Music and many more: https://pod.link/ecbpodcast