As the first female head of the IMF, Lagarde's victory is auspicious, especially after the sex scandal involving Strauss-Kahn, said Whitman, herself a former chief economist of General Motors Corporation.
"I don't for a minute want to suggest that [gender] somehow gave her an edge," Whitman said. "I think if she had been a man with the same qualifications, she still would have been a very strong candidate."
During her visit to Chicago on March 25 to receive the Global Woman Leader of the Year Award, Lagarde herself touched on the "imbalance" of leadership between men and women in many corporations around the world.
"Imbalance is what we deal with very much, and this balance between genders, this balance between men and women in society wherever we are, either at the top, in the middle or at the bottom is something that we need to improve," Lagarde told her audience in Chicago, where she worked from 1981 until she became France's trade minister in 2005.
She also touted her role in coordinating the global bailout package, the re-initiation of the financial systems and the prevention of protectionism and raising of tariffs by countries spooked by the economic crisis that started in 2007.
Meanwhile, Whitman also pointed out that with strong competition for the post by Bank of Mexico Governor Agustin Carstens, the "groundwork has been laid" in opening the IMF selection process to candidates coming from the world's emerging economies.
Whitman argued that the next time the leadership post of the IMF or the World Bank opens, it should be given to a representative from the emerging economies, not to yet another European or U.S. candidate.
Related:
IMF taps French Lagarde as new Managing Director
WASHINGTON, June 28 (Xinhua) -- The International Monetary Fund (IMF) announced Tuesday that it has selected French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde to serve as its next Managing Director.
The Executive Board of the IMF said it has picked Lagarde to serve as IMF Managing Director and Madame Chairman of the Executive Board for a five-year term starting on July 5, 2011, according to a statement of the Washington-based IMF, which lends to financially troubled member countries. Full Story
Lagarde faces a series of challenges
BEIJING, June 29 (Xinhuanet) --Indeed, newly-elected IMF chief, Christine Lagarde faces a series of challenges, such as confronting the European debt crisis and the reform of the IMF in her term.
Among the challenges, she will have to prod fellow Europeans to take painful steps to prevent a default by Greece. She'll also face pressure from developing nations that want a greater voice at the IMF. Full Story
