Collecting data on climate impact on women and girls

What’s gender got to do with climate change and health emergencies? Climate change is a health threat multiplier: · By 2050, climate change is projected to cause an additional 250,000 deaths annually from malnutrition, malaria, diarrhea, and heat stress alone (WHO) · 3.6 billion people already live in highly climate-susceptible areas. · Between 2008 and 2020, climate-related disasters displaced an average of 23 million people per year globally. (UN DRR) · Heatwaves are responsible for an additional 37% of heat-related deaths globally, with the burden disproportionately impacting low- and middle-income countries. Again, Climate change doesn’t hit everyone equally. It disproportionately affects women and girls, exacerbating gender inequalities in healthcare access and resource allocation · Women and children make up 80% of those displaced by climate disasters (World Bank). Displacement increases their risk of violence, including sexual violence (UN Women) · When disaster strikes, women and children are 14 times more likely than men to die (UNDP). Of the 230,000 deaths in the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami, 70% were women. · 60% of deaths in the last 20 years caused by extreme climate events corresponded to women. · Disasters like the 2015-2016 El Niño in East Africa led to increased maternal mortality rates. · Cyclone Idai in 2019 exacerbated the vulnerability of women and girls in Zimbabwe with heightened rates of diarrheal infections, sexual violence, and unsafe births. Alarming statistics, right? We need a multisectoral and interdisciplinary holistic approach to address these challenges effectively. That means environmental specialists need to work alongside health professionals and gender experts. Strong partnerships between government agencies, NGOs, and civil society are crucial. This World Environment Day June 5th, 2024, the WHE Gender Working Group partnered with Dr Brenda Akia, a distinguished guest speaker, a climate change expert, and a member of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). As chair of the WHE Gender Working Group, I strongly advocate for action now! Together, we can create a world where everyone, regardless of gender, is prepared to face the health challenges of the changing climate landscape.

Climate change is affecting all of us, but some more than others. In our latest article "Climate stressors and rural incomes: multi-country evidence on wealth, gender, and age disparities" we try to quantify these differences. Using survey data collected from rural people in 24 low and middle-income countries, combined with georeferenced temperature and precipitation data, we estimate the differential effects of extreme precipitation, extreme heat, and long-run temperature changes on the total, on-farm, and off-farm incomes of poor households, and households headed by women and young people, relative to their comparison groups. Some key findings: - Every day of extreme heat is associated with a reduction of the total income of poor and female-headed households by between 0.8 and 1.5 per cent, respectively, relative to non-poor and male-headed households - Households headed by younger people increase their total incomes relative to households headed by older people when extreme events occur through relative increases in off-farm income - A 1 degree Celsius increase in long-run average temperatures compels poor rural households to rely more heavily on agricultural income sources, compared to non-poor households, while female headed households lose 37 per cent more of their income relative to male-headed households These amount to billions of dollars in relative income losses among some of the most vulnerable people in the world. We need to act now by prioritizing rural people in climate actions, and financing interventions that address their distinct vulnerabilities. https://lnkd.in/dJvC9TdS

🌍 New Research on Climate, Gender Equality, and Economic Empowerment Gender equality is not only a matter of rights—it is also a driver of growth and resilience. But our new paper, “Temperature Anomalies as an Obstacle to Women’s Rights and Economic Empowerment?” (with Tea Trumbic, Daniela Behr and Liang Shen), shows that climate change may be slowing this progress. Using five decades of data across 190 economies from the World Bank’s Women, Business and the Law dataset, we find that irregular temperature fluctuations correlate with slower advances in legal gender equality. The effects are particularly pronounced in low-income countries, delaying reforms in areas such as parental leave, marriage, and women’s mobility. These findings highlight how climate stressors can indirectly undermine women’s rights, making it even more urgent to design policies that address gender disparities alongside climate resilience. 👉 https://lnkd.in/eKKVsmMd Would love to hear your thoughts.

👉At Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI), we have been exploring the non-economic loss and damage (NELD) nexus, those invisible costs of #ClimateChange that don’t show up in financial assessments but weigh heavily on lives, especially #women 💡One of the recent publication, “𝗚𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿-𝗖𝗹𝗶𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗔𝗻𝘅𝗶𝗲𝘁𝘆 𝗡𝗲𝘅𝘂𝘀: 𝗔𝗱𝗱𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗡𝗼𝗻-𝗘𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗼𝗺𝗶𝗰 𝗟𝗼𝘀𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗗𝗮𝗺𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗮𝗺𝗼𝗻𝗴 𝗨𝗿𝗯𝗮𝗻 𝗪𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗻 𝗶𝗻 𝗣𝗮𝗸𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻,” highlights how extreme temperatures, a least discussed aspect of climate change, are fueling climate anxiety among women in urban #Pakistan. 👉From urban slums to #university classrooms, from working women to young #girls, the impacts are profound: 👉Women in #informal settlements endure unbearable heat without cooling or safe housing. 👉Working women juggle jobs with unsafe and heat-stressed environments. 👉Students and young girls struggle to study, concentrate, and dream about the future while coping with climate fears. 👉#Anxiety and stress pass down generations, shaping aspirations and wellbeing of our children. 🌡🚨🚨These are not just damages, they are emotional, psychological and #social burdens. They reveal how women disproportionately bear the brunt of climate change in silence. The way forward? ✅ Integrate non-economic loss into #climate policy. ✅ Build climate-resilient urban spaces, cooling centers, #green cover, safer housing. ✅ Provide social protection and safe working conditions for women. ✅ Recognize and address climate-linked #MentalHealth challenges. ✅ Empower #youth, especially girls, with #education and participation in climate solutions. By acknowledging and addressing these hidden losses, we can create more equitable and resilient urban lifestyles 🔗 Read more here: https://lnkd.in/dAH_SZvH #ClimateChange #UrbanWomen #ClimateAnxiety #NonEconomicLossAndDamage #NELD #ClimatePolicy #SDPI #Resilience #Heatwave #GlobalWarming #Gender

The nexus between climate change and rural women’s vulnerability is often discussed but with no data quantifying the losses. The new FAO report The #UnjustClimate does just that. Women headed households lose up to 8% more income than men headed ones due to heat stresses and and 3% due to floods in a year. Yet only 6% of climate actions mention women and less than 1.7% of climate finance reaches small scale producers. This new evidence reiterates the call to action of the FAO Status of Women in Agrifood System that our team published last year. Intentional action and finance to close gender gaps, to promote #womensempowerment and to tackle social norms while strengthening #gendertransformative social protection and social policies is the key to promoting sustainable, inclusive and equitable #agrifoodsystem transformation and driving meaningful and transformative #climateaction. These messages were reiterated at the US launch of the #UnjustClimate report at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) by my colleagues Lauren Phillips Nicholas Sitko and by USSD Christina Chan and USAID Ann Vaughan. US Deputy Secretary of Agriculture Xochitl Torres Small made a passionate call to turn challenges into opportunities by investing in #womenfarmers and announced a US resolution to make 2026 the Year of the Woman Farmer. FAO Chief Economist Maximo Torero closed with a call to invest in women and youth in agrifood systems to make climate action work and ensure the #righttofood of millions. Time to commit finance and action #togrowequality!

I spent several months investigating the link between climate change and perinatal depression. Here’s a story from the field: Mangal Kamble has been an ASHA worker (community healthcare worker) since 2009. “With years of experience, I can easily tell when someone’s mental health is impacted.” She once noticed that Nayanatai Kamble from her village hadn’t told anyone she was two months pregnant — a potential warning sign. Nayanatai was also constantly dizzy and nauseated. Mangal quickly took her to a public healthcare center, where she was prescribed iron and folic acid supplements and advised complete bed rest. However, her condition did not improve. Upon probing, Mangal found she wasn’t getting a nutritious diet because her family reported tremendous farm losses in the drought. “We lost over 5500 kilograms of rice last year,” shared Nayanatai. The situation worsened in the summer when temperatures soared past 42°C. Without a ceiling fan, Nayanatai struggled with heat cramps, headaches, and dizziness. “I felt like my skin was burning, and I could hardly sleep through April and May,” she shared. The physical effects of sleep deprivation during pregnancy are well documented. Researchers have also found that inadequate sleep at 36 weeks could increase the risk of postpartum depression. “With declining physical health and a constant worry about giving birth in the house, which could have threatened her life, her mental health started to decline,” she explained. Mangal kept visiting Nayanatai, asking about her health and providing her with food and medicine. Still, she experienced complications: her baby boy spent two weeks in the hospital with difficulty breathing after he was born. Nayatanai credits Mangal with the fact that the outcome wasn’t worse. “Had she not helped me all this time, I wouldn’t have survived.” Increasingly, researchers are focusing on climate as a factor in perinatal depression and anxiety. Jennifer Barkin suggests that women should be screened for depression and anxiety during the perinatal period. “If we capture depression and anxiety scores in electronic medical records both during pregnancy and postpartum, we can monitor how these disorders’ incidence and prevalence change over time and in areas under constant threat of extreme weather.” With this data, providers can identify women who have experienced trauma and screen them more frequently. Do read my story for The Fuller Project to know more about how climate change can lead to perinatal depression. https://lnkd.in/d-K8Ka3g

🌎Health in Sustainability: Why Women Bear the Invisible Burden When we talk about sustainability, the focus is often on carbon, climate, and conservation. But what about health? According to the World Health Organization, 24% of all global deaths are linked to environmental factors such as air pollution, unsafe water, and chemical exposure. These risks are not gender neutral. Women, particularly in low- and middle-income countries, face disproportionate health impacts from environmental degradation. These impacts are shaped by both biology and social structures and are often overlooked in sustainability discussions. ‼️Air Pollution Indoor air pollution from cooking with solid fuels causes 3.8 million premature deaths each year. Women and children, who spend more time near cooking areas, are most at risk. In India, over 500 million people still rely on biomass for cooking. Women are the primary cooks in more than 90 percent of households. ‼️Heat Stress and Pregnancy Rising temperatures are more than a climate concern. A 2022 Nature Climate Change study found that 7 percent of all preterm births globally are linked to heat exposure. Pregnant women are increasingly vulnerable to climate-related health risks. ‼️Water Insecurity UNICEF reports that 1.8 billion people still rely on contaminated water sources, a burden that significantly affects women during menstruation and childbirth. In many parts of the world, women walk up to 6 kilometers per day to collect water. As droughts and water contamination increase, so do risks of physical strain, waterborne disease, and violence. ‼️Chemical Exposure and Hormonal Health Environmental toxins such as persistent organic pollutants, pesticides, and plastic-derived chemicals can interfere with endocrine function. This is increasingly linked to rising rates of PCOS, thyroid dysfunction, and fertility issues among women, particularly in industrial work settings and polluted urban areas. Some examples to address these issues include - ✨Kenya: Health clinics have adopted solar-powered cooling systems for vaccines and maternal care, reducing disruptions from climate-related power outages. ✨India: The Ujjwala Yojana scheme has distributed over 90 million LPG connections, cutting indoor air pollution exposure for millions of women. ✨Health equity must become a central pillar of climate action. A sustainable future cannot be achieved if we ignore the very people who bear the invisible burden of environmental health risks. Women are at the frontline of these impacts, yet often excluded from the decisions that shape our collective resilience. #Sustainability #PublicHealth #ClimateJustice #GenderEquality #EnvironmentalHealth #SustainableDevelopment #WomenInSustainability #ClimateAction

Imagine this: The simple act of going to fetch a glass of water could put you in (unknown) dangers. In Rajasthan, millions of women live this reality. Every day, they spend hours walking to collect water for their families—hours stolen from their lives. The 600 million people in India facing extreme water stress depend on this invisible, unpaid labor. A quarter of their lives every single day are consumed by this task, made harder by rising temperatures, shrinking water sources, and the relentless pressure of climate change. But it doesn’t stop there. When disasters hit, the dangers multiply. Picture the floods that ravaged Uttarakhand in 2013. Families lost everything—homes, livelihoods, their sense of safety. For women, the loss cut even deeper. Reports from the NCW found a 33% spike in violence against women after the floods. Displaced, vulnerable, with no security or protection, they became (easy) targets. And when it’s not floods, it’s heat. India is experiencing more intense and frequent heat waves, with over 200 days of extreme heat reported in 2023 alone. Women, especially pregnant women, suffer the most. A study revealed that heatwaves in India between 1992 and 2015 caused 17,000 deaths. Pregnant women exposed to extreme heat have a 20% higher risk of complications. The soaring temperatures not only put their health at risk but also make them more dependent on others, increasing their vulnerability. These stories may sound distant, but they’re the reality for women in India—facing both climate change and gender-based violence. But here’s the thing: It doesn’t have to be this way. What if women didn’t have to walk miles for water? What if their daily battles weren’t against both nature and society? Imagine localized water solutions, cutting down those dangerous treks. Imagine land rights for the 80% of rural women in agriculture, who currently own just 13.9% of the land. Imagine safe shelters during disasters, prioritizing women’s recovery and protection. This future is possible. By involving women in policy decisions, by embedding their safety into our climate plans, we can do more than fight climate change. No more invisible trauma, no more unspoken violence. Because saving the Earth means nothing if we fail to save her daughters. Image Source: https://lnkd.in/g8Eyib99

FAO released the report 'The Unjust Climate' - Measuring the impacts of climate change on rural poor, women and youth. This report assembles data from 24 low- and middle-income countries in five world regions to measure the effects of climate change on rural women, youth and people living in poverty. It analyses socioeconomic data collected from 109,341 rural households (representing over 950 million rural people) in these 24 countries. Some highlights: - In an average year, poor households lose 5% of their total income due to heat stress relative to better-off households, and 4.4% due to floods. - Every year, female-headed households experience income losses of 8% due to heat stress, and 3% due to floods, relative to male-headed households. - Heat stresses widen the income gap between rural poor and non-poor households by USD 20 Billion a year. Rural people and their climate vulnerabilities are barely visible in national climate policies. In the NDCs and NAPs of the 24 countries analysed in this report, only 6 percent of the 4,164 climate actions proposed mention women, 2 percent explicitly mention youth, less than 1 percent mention poor people and about 6 percent refer to farmers in rural communities. Full report is a treasure mine of evidence. #inequality #climatechange #foodandagriculture

A recent study raises alarm over the growing gender disparities in heat-related mortality rates in India. Calling for closing the Data Gaps for advancing gender equality and strengthening climate resilience in marginalised communities. The period from 2000-2019, reveals an increase in fatalities among women due to extreme temperatures, contrasting starkly with the declining trend observed among men. Men: A decrease in mortality rates by 23.11% from 2000 to 2010, and 18.7% from 2010 to 2019. Women: An increase in mortality rates by 4.63% from 2000 to 2010, and 9.84% between 2010 and 2019. The actually causes are not confirmed, however, this disparity is an unfortunate example of gender inequality driven by a profound data gap. In the Global South, the lack of high-quality, gender-specific health data prevents a comprehensive understanding of how climate extremes impact genders differently. This gap is hampering effective policymaking and intervention strategies that could mitigate these risks. Image Credit: Varsha Torgalkar, Thomson Reuters Foundation Study Credit: Significance Magazine and Down to Earth #climatechange #gendergap #women #heatwaves