Women's well-being and everyday adaptation to heat

This overview article examines how climate change-driven heatwaves affect women’s well-being and adaptation practices in low-income settings across Africa, Asia and Oceania. Drawing on a gender lens and an integrated well-being framework, the authors explore how extreme heat affects women differently through impacts on place, social relations and personal safety.

The review argues for a deeper understanding of how women's well-being is differentially impacted. It then shows how women adapt to safeguard their well-being at home, in the workplace and in communal spaces, as well as in their family relationships, community participation, personal recognition and safety. Extreme heat episodes erode these dimensions of well-being, and institutional adaptation initiatives require socioculturally and gender-grounded approaches to well-being to avoid perpetuating systemic gender inequality.