Gender equality, social monitoring and regional development in Brazil

contributions and limits of SDG 5 based on the IX Spotlight Report 2025

Abstract

This article examines the contributions and limitations of Sustainable Development Goal 5 (SDG 5) in promoting regional development in Brazil, based on the IX Spotlight Report on the 2030 Agenda (2025) produced by Brazilian civil society. It seeks to assess the extent to which gender equality, interpreted through an intersectional lens, can function as a structuring axis of regional development and to identify the structural constraints that condition its effectiveness. Methodologically, the study adopts a qualitative and descriptive approach grounded in documentary analysis of the Spotlight Report, mobilizing intersectionality as a theoretical and analytical framework. The findings indicate that although SDG 5 constitutes a relevant normative framework and an important instrument for statistical visibility, its implementation faces structural barriers linked to racialized poverty, the feminization of precarity, the disproportionate burden of unpaid care work, chronic underfunding of gender equality policies, and persistent territorial inequalities. The study concludes that the effectiveness of SDG 5 depends on its articulation with redistributive, anti-racist, and territorially grounded public policies capable of addressing the spatial and racial hierarchies that shape Brazilian development. In this regard, social monitoring and critical knowledge production emerge as essential mechanisms for public accountability and for advancing more just and inclusive regional development pathways.