UPPSC 2021 Prelims GS Paper-I · Question 58 of 150

Correct — B, Janet Yellen. On 26 January 2021 Janet Yellen was sworn in as the 78th United States Secretary of the Treasury, becoming the FIRST woman to hold that office in its more than 230-year history. An economist by training, she had earlier been the first woman to chair the US Federal Reserve (2014–2018), so her 2021 appointment also made her the first person to have led both the Treasury and the Fed. She was nominated by President Joe Biden and confirmed by the US Senate.

• (a)Lyoyd Austin — Wrong — Lloyd Austin became US Secretary of Defense (the first African-American to hold that post) in January 2021, not Treasury Secretary.
• (c)Merrick Gardand — Wrong — Merrick Garland was confirmed as US Attorney General, heading the Department of Justice, in March 2021 — a different department from the Treasury.
• (d)Tullipan — Wrong — this is not the name of any United States Treasury Secretary; the office went to Janet Yellen.

The US Secretary of the Treasury heads the Department of the Treasury and is the principal economic official in the President's Cabinet, responsible for federal finances, taxation (through the IRS), public debt and economic policy. Janet Yellen's appointment in January 2021 was historic as the first woman in the role; combined with her earlier chairmanship of the Federal Reserve, it made her the first person to have led the Treasury, the Fed and the White House Council of Economic Advisers.

This is a current-affairs 'firsts' question drawn from President Biden's January-2021 Cabinet. The distractors are genuine 2021 Biden appointees (Austin to Defense, Garland to Justice), so the discriminators are two: only Yellen went to the Treasury, and only she is a woman among the plausible names.

• Janet Yellen = first woman US Treasury Secretary; sworn in on 26 January 2021.
• She was earlier the first woman to chair the US Federal Reserve (2014–2018).
• Lloyd Austin became the first Black US Secretary of Defense (January 2021); Merrick Garland became US Attorney General (March 2021).
• The Treasury Secretary heads US federal financial policy — taxation, debt management and the IRS.

• Matching the wrong Biden appointee to the wrong department (Austin–Defense, Garland–Justice)
• Confusing the Treasury Secretary with the Federal Reserve Chair — Yellen held both, at different times

UPPSC and UPSC current-affairs items ask 'who is the first woman to hold post X' or match a year's new appointee to their office — track landmark 'firsts'.

No directly related past PYQ was found.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Janet Yellen, who became the first woman US Treasury Secretary in 2021, had earlier been the first woman to head which institution?

  • (a)The World Bank
  • (b)The International Monetary Fund
  • (c)The US Federal Reserve
  • (d)The World Trade Organization

  Answer(c) The US Federal Reserve — Yellen chaired the Fed from 2014 to 2018, the first woman to do so.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Who became the first woman and first African to be appointed Director-General of the World Trade Organization, in 2021?

  • (a)Christine Lagarde
  • (b)Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala
  • (c)Janet Yellen
  • (d)Kristalina Georgieva

  Answer(b) Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala — the Nigerian economist took charge as WTO Director-General in 2021.