Feminist macroeconomics and monetary policy

This chapter surveys evolving work in feminist macroeconomics, focusing on its contributions to understanding the gendered political economy of monetary policy. It begins by illustrating how feminist macro connects gender, power, production and reproduction in its approach to macroeconomic analysis, and presents a conceptual framework that organizes the major strands of research in the field according to the two-way causality between gender systems and the macroeconomy. The gender differential impact of macro structure and policy is explored through work on inflation-targetting and gendered employment outcomes, and the consequences of neoliberal macro policy for gender segregation and women's access to good jobs. The impact of gender on the structure and performance of the macroeconomy is illustrated through research on the feminization of foreign exchange earnings, gender stratification and the labor share of income, and the gendered policy economy of central bank policy. The chapter also illustrates how embedding care and social reproduction in macro analysis is important for understanding both causal directions.