how these resources are used and the extent to which they support social objectives including improvements in gender equality depends on how the financial sector is organized and regulated central banks have a key regulatory role setting out the rules and incentives and determining how the financial sector channels and allocates its resources by changing these rules central banks can channel credit to uses that support the realization of rights and promote gender equality credit allocation policies extend the toolkit available to pursue a range of objectives and should be considered as part of an alternative approach to macroeconomic management