The number of unusually hot days and nights on Earth is rising and becoming more common. Heat waves develop over a region as high-pressure systems gain strength and hover in the upper atmosphere for a long period of time. Stagnant air conditions, jet stream changes, urban heat island effect and climate change contribute to the development of frequent and intense heat waves.
A recent study published by the Indian Meteorological Department noted that the magnitude of moist heat stress increased 30% in India between 1980 and 2000. A spatial increase in the number of locations facing heat stress in the last 70 years (1951-2020) is recorded at approximately 30-40%. Even during dry heat stress, 30-40% of the areas had more than 60% humidity levels on a daily basis. Prolonged exposure to extreme heat results in more heat-related deaths and illnesses, particularly among the vulnerable population of women, children and the elderly. People suffer from exhaustion, dehydration, strokes, cramps and skin rashes, exacerbated chronic and infectious diseases, disrupted sleep cycles, stress and anxiety. These soaring temperatures are capable of inducing destructive natural calamities such as floods and cyclones too.
Irrespective of the nature of the disaster, women face the brunt of rising temperatures disproportionally more than men. Even as a decline in mortality from temperature changes among men by 23.11% (2000-2010) and 18.7% (2010-2019) was reported, women experienced a gradual rise in their mortality rates by 4.63% and 9.84% in the two time periods, respectively. The risk of pre-term labour and high stillbirth rates persists in adverse temperature conditions. According to the Asian Development Bank, for every 1°C rise in temperature, there is a 6% increase in pre-term births, up to 16% during heatwaves. Similarly, each 1°C increase in temperature pushes the likelihood of still-births to more than 5%. Thus, pregnancy amidst extreme heat becomes an even more stressful and risky period for women.
Also read: Climate Change Made April Heatwaves Across Asia – Including India – More Frequent, Intense
Women who work outdoors in the informal sector are the most affected. With more than 80% of rural women earning their daily bread from agriculture, extreme heat detrimentally affects crop yields, physical health, and ultimately, incomes. Women working in the informal sector in urban areas in Delhi face more severe effects of heat waves driven by their socio-economic disadvantage. Apart from complaints of dehydration and fatigue, their lives are rendered miserable in the heat by their poor living and working conditions. This includes the absence of sufficient drinking water, toilets and sunshades at work sites and in the slums, prolonged exposure to direct sunlight of four to nine hours, and congested settlements (poorly ventilated housing) with inappropriate roofing (of asbestos, metal GI sheets). These conditions will not be much different in other parts of the country for informal sector workers.
We cannot help but ponder upon the agency and awareness of women regarding their needs and health in the wake of extreme heat. It is when temperatures soar above 32°C that women take appropriate protective measures. They restrain themselves from drinking water due to the absence of toilets and to avoid relieving themselves outdoors. Traditional gender roles and cultural norms have fostered a culture of silence that constrains women’s decision-making power in households and in the local community. Women from marginalised communities are either made obligated to fetch water from water sources far away from their homes during peak hours or denied access to pipe water by the dominant caste communities. In addition to these socio-economic and cultural vulnerabilities faced by women, a study published last year analysing three South Asian countries found an increased risk of intimate partner violence as annual mean temperatures rose. The prevalence increase of such violence is predicted to be the highest in India (23.5%) by the end of this century as compared to Nepal (14.8%) and Pakistan (5.9%).
The challenges faced by women amidst extreme heat cannot be dealt with in isolation but in consonance with the reality of broader contextual issues of poverty, informality, gender and income inequality, discrimination, inequitable distribution and access to resources, and gender-based violence. Women’s voices expressing their contextual concerns and needs should be factored in and prioritised in the preparation and implementation of Heat Action Plans at the local levels (of course, supported by adequate funding and institutional mechanisms). These plans could delve deeper into the contexts within which women engage in different activities in the informal sector. A gender-oriented perspective must be mandatorily inculcated in the development of policies on climate change, disaster management, and development by the Central government. Such evidence-based policy-making will require gender-disaggregated data across states and union territories to be gathered and analysed utilising the capacities and resources of academia and public and private sector institutions.
Also read: Heat Action Plans: What They Are, Why We Need Them
As heatwaves are slowly becoming the new normal across the country, the health service system should be equipped to cater to the specific needs of the most vulnerable, especially women. Local governments should engage with women in community water management. They ought to ensure equitable access to key resources such as clean water, sanitation facilities, shelters/sunshades, adequate food, legal aid, etc. and create avenues for women in agriculture to build capacities and diversify their means of livelihoods during extreme weather events.
Encourage multisectoral and community action for passive cooling, such as painting roofs white, roof gardens, drinking water stations, etc. The feasibility of heat-linked parametric insurance programmes may be explored and expanded to cover all informal sector workers, especially women. As noted earlier, one-stop solutions cannot help women beat the heat when confronted with larger socio-economically and culturally embedded structural issues. This calls for an inclusive and participatory whole-of-government and society approach with shared solutions against the gendered impacts of climate change.
Liz Maria Kuriakose is Senior Researcher at the Centre of Social Medicine and Community Health, Jawaharlal Nehru University.
