diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index 06623a305ab54..d038e4996251f 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@ add_project_arguments('-DNPY_NO_DEPRECATED_API=0', language : 'cpp')
 add_project_arguments('-DNPY_TARGET_VERSION=NPY_1_21_API_VERSION', language : 'c')
 add_project_arguments('-DNPY_TARGET_VERSION=NPY_1_21_API_VERSION', language : 'cpp')
 
+cython_coverage = get_option('CYTHON_COVERAGE')
 
 if fs.exists('_version_meson.py')
     py.install_sources('_version_meson.py', subdir: 'pandas')
diff --git a/meson.options b/meson.options
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..092b2e736c541
--- /dev/null
+++ b/meson.options
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+option('CYTHON_COVERAGE', type: 'boolean', value: false)
diff --git a/pandas/_libs/meson.build b/pandas/_libs/meson.build
index c27386743c6e9..b354354ae1e7a 100644
--- a/pandas/_libs/meson.build
+++ b/pandas/_libs/meson.build
@@ -56,8 +56,6 @@ _intervaltree_helper = custom_target('intervaltree_helper_pxi',
 )
 _khash_primitive_helper_dep = declare_dependency(sources: _khash_primitive_helper)
 
-subdir('tslibs')
-
 libs_sources = {
     # Dict of extension name -> dict of {sources, include_dirs, and deps}
     # numpy include dir is implicitly included
@@ -109,6 +107,17 @@ cython_args = [
 if get_option('buildtype') == 'debug'
     cython_args += ['--gdb']
 endif
+if cython_coverage
+    cython_args += ['-X linetrace=true']
+    # Linetrace is not enough to ensure coverage is turned on
+    add_project_arguments('-DCYTHON_TRACE=1', language : 'c')
+    add_project_arguments('-DCYTHON_TRACE=1', language : 'cpp')
+
+    add_project_arguments('-DCYTHON_TRACE_NOGIL=1', language : 'c')
+    add_project_arguments('-DCYTHON_TRACE_NOGIL=1', language : 'cpp')
+endif
+
+subdir('tslibs')
 
 foreach ext_name, ext_dict : libs_sources
     py.extension_module(
diff --git a/pandas/_libs/parsers.pyx b/pandas/_libs/parsers.pyx
index 82e9812094af2..3498c4226e34a 100644
--- a/pandas/_libs/parsers.pyx
+++ b/pandas/_libs/parsers.pyx
@@ -320,7 +320,7 @@ cdef double round_trip_wrapper(const char *p, char **q, char decimal,
 
 cdef char* buffer_rd_bytes_wrapper(void *source, size_t nbytes,
                                    size_t *bytes_read, int *status,
-                                   const char *encoding_errors) noexcept:
+                                   const char *encoding_errors) noexcept nogil:
     return buffer_rd_bytes(source, nbytes, bytes_read, status, encoding_errors)
 
 cdef void del_rd_source_wrapper(void *src) noexcept:
diff --git a/pandas/_libs/window/meson.build b/pandas/_libs/window/meson.build
index ad15644f73a0c..1e28dcaee9a88 100644
--- a/pandas/_libs/window/meson.build
+++ b/pandas/_libs/window/meson.build
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 py.extension_module(
     'aggregations',
     ['aggregations.pyx'],
-    cython_args: ['-X always_allow_keywords=true'],
+    cython_args: cython_args,
     include_directories: [inc_np, inc_pd],
     subdir: 'pandas/_libs/window',
     override_options : ['cython_language=cpp'],
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ py.extension_module(
 py.extension_module(
     'indexers',
     ['indexers.pyx'],
-    cython_args: ['-X always_allow_keywords=true'],
+    cython_args: cython_args, #['-X always_allow_keywords=true'],
     include_directories: [inc_np, inc_pd],
     subdir: 'pandas/_libs/window',
     install: true