Gender sensitive approach in response to climate change: Why and how?

Abstract

Global gender inequalities are intensifying, driven by intersecting social, political, and environmental pressures. Recent evidence shows that women bear a disproportionate burden of poverty, food insecurity, poor health, and gender-based violence. Climate change further compounds these vulnerabilities, threatening to reverse hard-won gains in gender equality, particularly in fragile and low-resource settings. Without urgent, gender-responsive and climate-informed action, millions more women and girls risk being pushed into extreme poverty in the coming decades.

Introduction

The Gender Snapshot 2025 report presents alarming estimates: female extreme poverty stands at 10%; nearly 64 million more female adults are food insecure than their male counterparts; women spend nearly 3 more years in poor health compared to men; and over one in eight women has been subjected to physical and/or sexual violence. ¹ The prevailing scenario is identified as a “political outcome, shaped by systemic neglect, stalled investments, and a retreat from equality.” Climate change has been highlighted as a “threat multiplier” that not only disproportionately affects women but is worsening the existing gender inequality, especially in conflict-affected and resource-constrained geographies. If the current trends continue, under a worst-case climate scenario, up to 158.3 million more women and girls may live in extreme poverty globally as a result of climate change by 2050. ¹

Despite the growing body of evidence on direct and indirect health impacts of climate change, vulnerability assessment and equitable mitigation strategies are often overlooked and neglected. ² A systematic review of evidence assessing the impacts of climate policies on inequality from a gender perspective not only reports scarce evidence in the domain but also shows that most of the existing evidence is fairly recent. ³ The review also notes that the existing analyses lack key aspects of gender-oriented analysis, such as power relations, intersectionality, and gender mainstreaming and often use gender merely as an additional explanatory variable. ³ This special collection comprises eight articles to fill in the existing research gaps by examining the issue from a multifocal lens via:

• synthesising evidence on how climate change disproportionately impacts women’s health and gendered health vulnerabilities;

• analyses from population-based cohorts to establish an association between temperature changes and adverse pregnancy outcomes;

• case studies exploring gendered dimensions of climate change; and

• recommendations on potential policies and strategies to navigate these challenges.

The article by Anjum and Aziz is a systematic review of evidence examining the intersection between climate change and gendered health vulnerabilities. ⁴ The synthesis of existing evidence highlights that climate change disproportionately affects women, exacerbating pre-existing gender inequalities. Findings from this review emphasise adverse maternal and newborn health outcomes, mental health challenges, increased water insecurity, and an intensified caregiving burden among women as a result of climate change. Moreover, women residing in resource-constrained settings are shown to be particularly vulnerable due to reduced access to resources, healthcare, and decision-making platforms, further limiting their adaptive capacities. The systematic review by Lakhani et al. ⁵ quantifies heat-related pregnancy adversities in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). The review findings highlight an overall lack of evidence and heterogeneity in defining heat exposures. Findings from existing evidence point towards potential adverse impacts of ambient temperature and heat exposure during pregnancy on birth outcomes such as preterm births, low birth weight (LBW), abortions, and stillbirths in LMICs.

Population-based studies by Moodley et al. ⁶ and Hira Fatima et al. ⁷ add to the existing body of evidence on the impact of maternal heat exposure and adverse pregnancy outcomes. The study by Moodley et al. ⁶ is a population-based cohort study analysing data from 3477 pregnancies recorded in a demographic surveillance system in rural South Africa. Data reports a clear relationship between maternal heat exposure during the month preceding conception and miscarriage in the cohort. The study by Hira Fatima et al. ⁷ quantifies the association between temperature and LBW in Pakistan using a space-time-series study design. Analyses included 17,077 birth records from Multi-Indicator Cluster Surveys and Demographic and Health Surveys to conclude a positive association between heat exposure and LBW during the first month of pregnancy, suggesting that early gestation may be a critical period of vulnerability.

The collection also includes three case studies from Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Australia: exploring gendered dimensions, women’s experiences and contributions in the climate crisis. The study by Dijkerman et al. contextualises how climate change impacts women’s sexual and reproductive health and rights, decision-making and behaviours in cyclone-affected communities in a coastal region of Bangladesh. ⁸ Women highlighted that they perceived the climate crisis to worsen unintended pregnancy, sexual and gender-based violence, and pregnancy complications. Waseem et al. ⁹ present a case study from Pakistan, which was impacted by catastrophic floods in 2022, affecting 80 districts and at least 33 million people. The case study highlights that pregnant women and adolescent girls suffered the most, with at least 650,000 pregnant women trapped following the flood crisis, while 73,000 women required urgent obstetric treatment due to impending deliveries. Collaborative efforts led to the distribution of essential equipment like newborn baby kits, menstruation kits, and clean delivery kits on an emergency basis. McNaught et al. present a case study from the climate crisis in the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales, Australia, a rural area subjected to compounding disasters. ¹⁰ This study reveals that women made significant and enduring local contributions to the health, well-being, and recovery of communities across the region despite challenges. However, women often end up paying the cost of undertaking these roles through negative impacts on their own health and well-being.

The article by Aziz and Anjum is a narrative synthesis of existing literature and policy analysis on transformative strategies for enhancing women’s resilience to climate change. ¹¹ This review synthesises existing research and policy recommendations to argue for a comprehensive policy framework. The framework recognises the complex interplay between women’s vulnerabilities and climate change, advocating for women’s empowerment as central to climate resilience efforts in LMICs. The review recommends integrating gender perspectives, enhancing health services for women, and fostering international collaboration in order to adopt a holistic approach to mitigate the adverse effects of climate change on women’s health and well-being.

Overall, the articles published in this special collection bring together recent evidence on why women are disproportionately vulnerable to climate change and present some adaptation strategies that effectively integrate gender perspectives. Moreover, the series also includes various case studies on ways to empower women through increased access to resources and decision-making, thus enhancing their resilience and adaptive capacity in the face of climate change. However, we acknowledge that the articles included in the series may not be representative of all global geographies, and each setting would require a context-specific solution to the problem.

Conclusion

Deeply embedded gender inequalities leave women at a disadvantage from an early age, making them less likely to prepare for and survive disasters and consequently more prone to devastating impacts. The response, therefore, should be multi-pronged and involve gender mainstreaming to ensure inclusivity of all genders at every stage, including design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change introduced a Gender Action Plan (GAP), a strategy document that ensures climate action works for everyone. The objective of the GAP is to ensure that, at an organisational and governmental level, issues such as pay equity, leadership balance, and creating inclusive cultures are adopted and applied, so that gender inequalities can be addressed at the grassroots level rather than being a mere response to climate change.