Feminist Economics and the monetary sphere

Feminist macroeconomics has largely been concerned with the gendered dimensions of fiscal policy, analyzing how taxation, public spending, labor markets, and the forces of trade and globalization shape—and are shaped by—persistent gender inequalities within (national) economies. Yet, the monetary sphere remains comparatively under researched, with far less critical inquiry into how monetary policy and institutions intersect with gender and other axes of social difference. This article addresses that gap by offering an interdisciplinary, literature-based synthesis of feminist engagement with monetary policy across four key domains: first, diversity management in the staffing of central banks; second, the integration of intersectionality as a guiding principle within central bank organizational cultures; third, the socio-economic impacts of monetary policy on social groups experiencing different intersecting forms of vulnerability; and fourth, theoretical debates that critique and reimagine the very design of money as a social institution. Rooted in feminist economics, this paper connects insights from diversity management, institutional economics, economic policy analysis, and the history of economic thought, charting new directions for a feminist critique of monetary policies. The paper focuses on policy that is linked to climate change abatement.