Women experience extreme heat differently to men. And they’re adapting to it in creative ways |
Right now, an unusual April and May heatwave is scorching large parts of India.
Temperatures have exceeded 46°C across the northwest and centre, schools are closed, hospitals have set up dedicated heatstroke units and the government has issued heat warnings.
We tend to think of heatwaves as a health crisis – almost 490,000 people die from heat globally each year. But this doesn’t account for the destructive effects of extreme heat on the everyday lives of women in ways that don’t show up in mortality statistics.
Our research review, which looks at examples across Oceania, Africa and Asia finds that the people who are forced to adapt to the greatest extent are the ones that climate policies ignore the most.
Heat at work and at home
How people experience heat is often gendered. In many parts of the world, the tasks interrupted by extreme heat are socially and culturally determined.
For example, in many parts of Africa, Asia and Oceania, women are the primary household caretakers. They are often forced to spend more time indoors than men, in poorly ventilated homes without insulation or cooling, causing physical and mental stress. This shows how........