Christine Lagarde is used to breaking new gender ground

Petra du Toit

When Christine Madeleine Odette Lagarde (55) on 5 July this year became the 11th head of the 187-nation International Monetary Fund (IMF) in its 66-year existence, she merely continued what has become for her an impressive career of firsts. Although her gender might have played a role in her selection to the position in the wake of the sex scandal that surrounded the departure of her predecessor and countryman, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, there can be no doubt she brings a set of unique skills to the job during a crucial period in the history of the organisation.

Born on the first day of 1956, Christine Lallouette as a teenager became a member of the French national synchronised swimming team.

A lawyer by training, she has over the years built up an impressive and distinctly international record of breaking new ground in a world and in fields that have been dominated by men in the past.

Lagarde, who hails from a family of academics, and whose father was a professor of English and her mother a teacher, in 1981 joined the Chicago-based international law firm of Baker & McKenzie – the world’s fifth largest firm in terms of revenue – where she would handle major antitrust and labour cases.

She became a partner in the firm after only six years and went on to become its Western Europe head.

She became a member of the firm’s executive committee in 1995 and its first female chairperson four years later.

In 2004, Lagarde became the president of the firm’s global strategic committee.

Her personal interest in European affairs led her to open the European Law Centre in Brussels from where Baker & McKenzie operated a practice exclusively dedicated to European Law.

Lagarde entered the world of French and European politics in 2005 and was appointed France’s minister of Trade, a position in which she prioritised opening up new markets of the country’s products, focusing on the technology sector.

On May 2007, she was moved to the Ministry of Agriculture as part of the Cabinet of François Fillon but, a month later, she was moved to the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Industry and Employment. With this move, Lagarde became the first woman to ever be in charge of economic policy in France.

This was probably the position she held for the shortest time in her career because only a month later, she was appointed Finance minister by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, just before the onset of the global financial crisis – one that afforded her the opportunity to establish a reputation as a skilled negotiator within the so-called Group of 20 industrialised nations, particularly within the European Union.

At that point, Lagarde not only became the first woman minister of Finance in the history of France, put also the first woman ever in that position in one of the eight largest economies of the world – the so-called G8.

One of the most powerful women in the world

It is said that in May of last year, when it became clear that Europe was facing a mayor sovereign debt problem, it was Lagarde’s negotiating skills that proved crucial in clinching an agreement on the euro area’s own $1.6-trillion bailout fund, after an all-night work session.

This fund has since taken on new significance and is described by some commentators, after the latest rescue deal for Greece, as the beginning of the 16-nation monetary union’s “own IMF”.

This could prove a crucial development as Lagarde faces the challenges of repositioning the IMF to reflect a changing global financial reality in which some so-called emerging economies, and notably so China, have arrived as forces to be reckoned with and which need to be accommodated in international institutions.

Two years after she became minister of Finance in France, the British Financial Times rated her as the best in the eurozone.

In that same year, Forbes magazine ranked her as the 17th most powerful woman in the world.

Despite a decision last year, that the position as managing director of the IMF in future should be filled on the basis that it automatically goes to a European, with an American in the deputy spot and another one at the head of the World Bank, it was clear almost immediately after the demise of Strauss-Kahn that the change to a ‘merit selection’ would not happen this time round.

While there was some talk about changes, and the name of Mexico’s Agustín Carstens also put forward, it was soon clear which way it would go.

Selection campaign

To Lagarde’s credit, she did not treat her candidacy as a mere formality and went for an all-out campaign. During campaigning, which among others took her to China and Brazil, she said she was ready to boost the clout of developing nations at the IMF and give more management jobs to people from those countries.

She further promised to increase staff diversity in terms of gender and academic background.

Illustrating her negotiation skills, she apparently succeeded in making a deal with the Chinese on a ‘campaign visit’ to that country, and subsequently secured its backing for her selection.

The nature of the deal soon became clear after Lagarde’s appointment when Zhu Min, a former deputy governor of the People’s Bank of China, was appointed one of the two IMF deputy directors. This is the first time a Chinese official has held such a post. Zhu Min’s appointment does not only show that China is interested in expanding its influence within the IMF, but is also a sign that Lagarde intends making good on her promises that she will recognise the increasing power of emerging markets.

She succeeded in mobilising the support from non-European economic powerhouses in India, Russia, Brazil and China.

At her first press conference after her appointment, Lagarde said: “The world is going to continue to change. We have these tectonic plates that are moving at the moment, and that needs to be reflected in the composition of governance and employment at the Fund.”

She added that she is “not here to represent the interest of any given region of the world, but rather the entire membership.”

The appointment of Zhu Min may speed up the implementation of reforms in the global financial constellation for which President Sarkozy and others have been asking for some time.

Zhu Min is expected to raise questions about the position of the dollar and about American monetary and fiscal policy – discussions that to date have not succeeded to gain much traction in the cosy environment of the Euro-American club.

Personal background

After graduation in 1974, from the Lycée François Premier in Le Havre, Lagarde went on a scholarship to the Holton-Arms Independent Girls School in Bethesda, Maryland in the US.

She graduated from the law school at the University of Paris X Nanterre in France and also obtained a master’s degree in Political Science from the Institut d’études politiques d’Aix-en-Provence (Sciences Pra Aix).

Since 2010, Lagarde has presided over the Institute’s board of directors.

She will not be a stranger to Washington, where the IMF is based, nor its famous Hill: She worked as an intern at the United States Capitol as congressional assistant of congressman, William Cohen.

Lagarde is a divorced mother of two sons, both in their 20s: Pierre-Henri and Thomas.

Her permanent partner since 2006 has been the entrepreneur Xavier Giocanti from Marseille.

She is a vegetarian and does not drink alcohol at all. Yoga, scuba diving, swimming and gardening are listed on her CV as hobbies.