Extreme Survival

How poor women cope with poverty and climate change

- Anisha Reddy

THIS summer season in India, schools were ordered to be shut, offices asked their employees to work water supply. But what about those people who are the most vulnerable to the consequences of climate change? Recent studies by the World Health Organization (WHO) and climate agencies have shown that women exhibit a heightened susceptibility to extreme temperatures, heat in particular, as compared to men-especially those women who work without job security and social protection mechanisms.