Yet Yellen was never the president's first choice. The position had long been promised to Summers in exchange for his agreeing to serve during Obama's first term as economic adviser, rather than as Treasury secretary, the role he held in the Clinton administration. Throughout the summer, reports surfaced that Summers remained the president's leading choice for Fed chair, even though Yellen had attracted broad support and been endorsed by more than 450 economists across the political spectrum.

At first quietly, and then not so quietly, women went to work organizing opposition to Summers, based jointly on his failed economic track record and his history of sexist and insensitive remarks.

Ultraviolet and the National Organization for Women took the lead. While the grassroots groups gathered petitions, asked people to call Congress, and launched a public education campaign to highlight Yellen's abundant qualifications for Fed chair, a group of powerful female donors made personal calls to members of the Senate Banking Committee.

"It wasn't so much that we wanted a woman to head up the Fed," said Georgia Berner, a businesswoman and progressive donor who previously served on a regional Fed board. "It was that we did not believe that an intelligent, competent person should be discounted because of their gender."