Mental Health and Gender Issues in the 21st Century as Reflected in Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels: Social Perspectives in the Light of SDG 3 and SDG 5

This article examines Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels (1726), focusing on Book II in Brobdingnag, as a critical resource for understanding contemporary challenges in mental health and gender equality. Through historicized close reading aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being; SDG 5: Gender Equality), the study argues that Swift’s satire dramatizes mechanisms of alienation, commodification, gendered subordination, and systemic corruption that remain pertinent in the twenty-first century. Gulliver’s treatment as spectacle illustrates how stigma undermines psychological well-being, while the contrast between the farmer’s exploitation and Glumdalclitch’s care highlights the social determinants of resilience. The Queen’s authority and the maids of honour’s scrutiny destabilize patriarchal norms, revealing the performativity of gender, while the King’s judgment of European politics situates systemic violence as a determinant of collective distress. By aligning these episodes with specific SDG targets, the article demonstrates how literature illuminates the pathways by which social structures compromise health and justice. The findings affirm the enduring power of satire to serve as cultural critique and collective memory, underscoring literature’s capacity to inform debates on health equity and gender justice in global contexts.