Gender-differentiated and age-specific risks of heat stress in a warming world: Implications for equality and resilience

Extreme heat is an intensifying climate risk and an under-recognized driver of gender and age inequality, with implications for public health, labour, and social justice. As global temperatures rise beyond 1.5°C, heat stress is no longer episodic but a structural challenge that disproportionately affects women, children, older persons, and marginalized populations, particularly in low- and middle-income countries.

This paper shows that heat impacts emerge from the interaction of biological differences and gendered social roles. Physiological factors shape thermoregulation, fertility, and pregnancy outcomes, with elevated risks for pregnant women, newborns, and older women during heatwaves. Gendered divisions of labour and care amplify exposure. Women are overrepresented in subsistence agriculture, informal employment, and unpaid care and domestic work, often performed during the hottest hours with limited access to cooling, healthcare, and labour protections. Men, by contrast, experience high rates of acute heat injury in physically demanding outdoor occupations, reflecting exposure patterns and risk-discouraging norms.

Heat vulnerability varies across the life course. Children and adolescents face risks linked to physiological immaturity, education disruption, and early labour or pregnancy. Working-age adults experience productivity losses, occupational hazards, and reproductive health impacts. Older persons, especially women living alone, face the highest heat-related mortality due to declining thermoregulation, poverty, and social isolation. The analysis concludes that heat stress is a climate justice and gender equality issue requiring adaptation. Integrating age- and gender-responsive considerations across heat action plans, labour standards, urban design, health systems, and data collection is essential to prevent inequities in a warming world.