This text was prepared to provide a locus for the debate around the current challenges to
facing gender inequalities in the BRICS, in light of the action that is now being developed by
the so-called New Development Bank, the BRICS Bank. Thus, it starts from an analysis of the
geopolitical reconfiguration of where the block operates. We will first identify important
changes in the order that was intended as multipolar, with the creation of the BRICS,
particularly concerning the role China has had worldwide.
We will then provide a brief discussion of Brazil’s role, in a context of profound changes in the
orientation of the country’s foreign policy.
The second part of the text will provide an overview of the historical process of women’s
participation in the BRICS space, locating the 2014 Fortaleza Summit as an important initial
landmark to build a feminist agenda in the realm of the block.
Our timeline will then focus on the recent opportunity and need for the creation of the BRICS
Feminist Observatory, which is currently mobilizing to contribute and influence the BRICS’s
New Development Bank actions from the viewpoint of gender issues, both in their internal
policies and in their operations and criteria for approving projects.
We will finally discuss the importance of the NBD, developing questions and proposals for the
Bank to really become a new international financial institution committed with reducing
inequalities in the Global South and promoting sustainable development, including women as
subjects of rights in all countries where it operates.
