A combination of monetary policies and public investment can address gender biases in an economy by
supporting equality among entrepreneurs, workers, carers and consumers. Recent recovery
interventions from central banks have not explicitly considered the impacts of their policies on gender
equality, which is a missed opportunity. This paper discusses the gender implications of monetary
policies, arguing that they are not gender neutral. We examine the evolution of monetary policies in
Bangladesh, Kenya, Peru, Sri Lanka and Tanzania and discuss the indirect gender equality implications
of these policies. The aim is to complement the country case studies of the project ‘Shaping the MacroEconomy in Response to Covid-19: A Responsible Economic Stimulus, a Stable Financial Sector and a
Revival in Exports’.
We distinguish four types of monetary policies: (1) interest rates and reserve policies, which relate to
banks’ capital requirements; (2) quantitative easing, lending terms and loan guarantees for sectors, firms
and individuals, which relate to maintaining liquidity in the financial system: (3) alternative monetary
policies, restricting or earmarking specific constraints or provisions; and (4) balance of payments
policies, which include policies relating to exchange rate, capital controls and central banks’ foreign
reserve holding.
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