data for the period for nine oecd countries showed weak evidence of employment impacts in changes in shortterm interest rates in the countries studied with no genderdifferentiated employment impacts takhtamanova and sierminska a study of inflation reducing episodes between and in low and middleincome countries found that there were contractions in total employment growth rates in per cent of cases and that women s employment was adversely affected relative to men s employment in the majority of those contractionary episodes ibid where inflationreducing episodes were accompanied by an expansion in employment there was no genderspecific impact inflation reduction was most likely to lead to a contraction in employment with adverse effects on women when central banks responded to inflationary pressure by raising real interest rates above their long term trend maintaining a competitive exchange rate also helped to counter the negative impact on women s employment during periods of contraction ibid women smallholder farmers and small and mediumscale entrepreneurs in rural areas are among those who have been deprived of access to credit