Did You Know? #45

What do the following jobs have in common: Chair of the Federal Reserve, CEO of a top US Bank, Chief Justice, Vice President and President.

They are top jobs no woman has ever held. 

President Barack Obama nominated Janet Yellen for chief of the Federal Reserve on October 9, a move that could make her the first female leader of the central bank, or of any major central bank in the world.

The 10 largest U.S. banks by total assets are all run by men.

President Obama has placed two women in the High Court with his nominations of Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who is also the court's first Hispanic justice, and Justice Elena Kagan. Sotomayor and Kagan are the Supreme Court's third and fourth female justices, respectively, but there has yet to be a woman in the position of Chief Justice.

Geraldine Ferraro and Sarah Palin are the only two women to run for vice president on major party tickets. Ferraro ran as a Democrat alongside presidential nominee Walter Mondale in 1984 and Palin shook up the race when she ran with John McCain on the Republican Presidential ticket in 2008. Both candidates lost.

Women have been running for president since 1872 when Victoria Woodhull, a leader in the women's suffrage movement, ran as part of the Equal Rights Party. Still, no woman has been able to run as the presidential candidate on a major party ticket --though many have tried. Hillary Clinton came closest to winning the nomination of a major political party when she ran in 2008.