Janet Yellen will be inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame in 2026, adding another first to a career built on breaking barriers in U.S. economic policy. Yellen said the honor is especially meaningful because the hall is about the story of women in America and their struggle to achieve equality.
“This one is very special to me,” Yellen said, adding that the recognition makes her part of that story. Founded in 1969 in Seneca Falls, N.Y., the National Women’s Hall of Fame inducts a class of women each year, with about half contemporary or living and half historic.
Yellen’s name is already fixed in economic history. She was the first woman to lead the Federal Reserve, the first female treasury secretary and the only person to hold the three big U.S. economic leadership positions, including chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisers. She said she has long believed economics should improve outcomes for people, especially those who are struggling to succeed.
That perspective framed her comments about the years she spent at the center of policymaking. Yellen said she often attended meetings in academia and at international gatherings where she was the only woman at the table. She also said her career included helping make decisions at the Federal Reserve during the worst financial crisis the United States has seen since the Great Depression.
Her remarks did not stop at the award. In the same interview, Yellen said she is very worried about Fed independence and said she has seen the worst attacks on it in her lifetime. The central bank’s job, she said, is price stability and full employment, but presidents usually prefer easier monetary policy than the Fed believes is appropriate.
Yellen said she has never seen a president work so aggressively to place people at the Fed who would align with his views on policy. She said that has recently meant weaponizing the Justice Department against the Fed chair and trying to remove a member of the Federal Reserve Board for very questionable cause. She also said a president has made it explicit that the Fed should hold down the cost of interest on the debt, warning that such a path leads to a banana republic and to high or even hyperinflation.
She extended that concern to trade and diplomacy, saying she is particularly alarmed by the president’s treatment of allies and approach to trade. In her view, he is destroying a system of global rules that has underpinned peace and prosperity since World War II, and the order countries largely followed has kept the world on a prosperous path.
The Hall of Fame’s 2026 class will pair Yellen’s living legacy with women whose accomplishments are already part of the historical record. For Yellen, the induction is not just a nod to a singular career. It is a place in a broader American story she has spent decades helping to write.