ABSTRACT
The last ten years have seen a blossoming of critical research on gender and macroeconomic processes, theories and policies; the next ten years present us with the challenge of building on this to try to start transforming practice and move towards the use of macroeconomic policy as an instrument for empowering rather than burdening women. This will not be easy. There will be obstruction from gender based coalitions of men, intent on blocking changes, even though greater gender equality promises benefits for society as a whole (Folbre, 1994, 1995). There will be obstruction from class-based coalitions of men and women, intent on preventing any active use of macroeconomic policy to change the outcome of market processes. There will be a need to tackle the international dimensions of macroeconomic policy, and to work simultaneously on national and international levels, in order to contest the constraints that international bond markets currently place on macroeconomic policy.
