Authors: Isa van der Wal & Rasika Kulkarni
The impacts of climate change extend far beyond environmental degradation; they intersect with social inequalities to shape the lived experiences of women and girls around the world. Increasing evidence suggests that climate-related disasters from extreme heat and drought to floods and storms – not only disrupt ecosystems and economies but also intensify gender-based violence and heighten women’s vulnerability to abuse. According to the UN Spotlight Initiative, every 1ºC rise in global temperature is linked to a 4.7% increase in intimate partner violence. In a 2ºC warming scenario, an additional 40 million women and girls could experience intimate partner violence annually by 2090. In 2023, 93.1 million people were affected by weather-related disasters, and an estimated 423 million women experienced intimate partner violence, illustrating the scale of this intertwined crisis.
This article examines the correlation between natural disasters and sexual and gender-based violence through an intersectional approach. It aims to explore how climate crises can deepen gendered inequalities and escalate abuse, particularly in contexts of displacement, refugee settings, and post-disaster recovery. Through illustrative examples, this article highlights the urgent need for gender-responsive climate policies that protect women’s rights, safety, and dignity. This paper focuses on the global south, due to the vast amount of literature available for this region and due to most of the effects of climate change on gender-based violence being experienced here. However, the gender disparity in facing the effects of climate change is not limited to the global south. Comparable trends are also seen in developed nations. There is also a lack of data and literature for the global north. The European Union began the drive for data collection only post 2020 (European Comission).
Framing the Issue
The effects of natural disasters are far from gender-neutral. While climate events affect entire communities, they disproportionately harm women and girls due to existing social inequalities and power imbalances. Climate-induced shocks like displacement, loss of livelihood, and heightened economic stress can escalate violence within households and communities. The stressors linked to disasters – including food insecurity, shelter instability, and loss of social support – often exacerbate pre-existing gendered vulnerabilities, driving up rates of domestic abuse, sexual exploitation, and other forms of gender-based violence. (source: the UN Spotlight Initiative).
An intersectional perspective shows that climate disasters act as force multipliers of existing gender inequalities. By deepening economic precarity, disrupting social protection systems, and destabilising households and communities, climate stress heightens women’s vulnerability to violence. While the disproportionate effect of climate change on women during climate crises is recognised, the action to address the issue remains limited. The need for better incorporation of gender justice to be embedded within climate adaptation and disaster management strategies remains.
Explaining the Disproportionate Effects of the Climate Crisis on Women and Girls
Underlying Inequality
Women’s vulnerability to climate impacts and gender-based violence is rooted in structural inequalities. In many societies, women are primarily responsible for caregiving, fetching water, preparing food, and securing household resources – roles that climate disruptions make significantly more difficult (source: UN). For instance, prolonged droughts and changing rainfall patterns force girls and women to walk longer distances for water and firewood, increasing their exposure to violence and theft and often compelling them to miss school or income-earning opportunities. (source: UNICEF).
Economic and legal marginalisation further compounds these vulnerabilities. Women frequently have less access to land ownership, credit, financial services, and employment opportunities, limiting their ability to adapt or recover after disasters. As the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development notes, women’s exclusion from decision-making and climate planning reinforces these inequities, hindering their access to resources that could enhance resilience.
Women in general are forced to carry out household tasks despite natural atrocities. The design of the social structure puts most caregiving responsibilities on women. This puts physical as well as mental pressure on women. They end up prioritising the needs of their family over their own. With a lack of water, for example, women will encourage male members who go out for work to take showers. This affects their hygiene and can, in certain cases, have health repercussions (Sarkar and Bandopadhyay, p. 89).
With a lack of proper means to cook or an increase in poverty because of natural disasters, women are left to cook on wood or coal stoves. This is known as indoor pollution, and continuous inhalation of the smoke can lead to respiratory diseases (Banerji, Nandita).
In many cases, the men migrate for employment opportunities, leaving women with more responsibility. They are left behind, often with agricultural roles with limited land rights and influence on decision-making. This trend is also a trend seen in the European Union, where the participation of women in agriculture has increased by 29%. There are also more older women working in agriculture as compared to men of the same age group (European Commission). It is found that women work two or three times harder after natural disasters, which has a direct effect on both their mental and physical health (Sarkar and Bandopadhyay, p. 130). They face an extra burden in a setting that is already worsened.
Social Norms as Amplifiers
Social norms and cultural restrictions often restrict women’s mobility and participation in public life – conditions that become especially dangerous after disasters. Women may have limited access to early warning systems or evacuation information, and in the chaos of disaster response and displacement camps, these mobility restrictions can exacerbate risks of sexual violence and exploitation. (source: UN).
Further, unequal access to information and communication technologies means women are less likely to receive timely alerts – a disadvantage that can be life-threatening during emergencies. When infrastructure is damaged or services are cut off, these gaps widen, leaving women with fewer avenues to seek help or shelter safely.
Furthermore, it is observed that when environmental conditions worsen, men are likely to be chosen over women for employment. Women are more likely to suffer from health problems, which can be hindered by menstruation or childbearing in the future. The employer also does not need to concern itself with safety, as male employees are less likely to face violence at or outside the workplace (Luo, Pingxuan). The female workforce is more prevalent in informal sectors (Sarkar and Bandopadhyay, p. 52). With less access to opportunities, they are left outside of the decision and policy making, causing their condition to worsen. This goes hand-in-hand with the increased domestic gender marginalisation.
Natural disasters can disrupt education for young women. While at times, it is a temporary halt, it could also become a permanent stop. With a weak educational background, women end up dependent on their male partners. The increase in domestic violence following periods of environmental distress can leave a long-term psychological impact. It has a direct impact on the self-confidence and self-esteem of a woman. With a lack of education and resources, they are unable to escape their circumstances, being forced to stay complacent with their families and existing circumstances (Luo, Pingxuan).
Long-Term Health Risks
Women are more likely to die as a result of climate events. Not just climate events, but also living in surroundings with extreme environmental pollution, affects women disproportionately. In a community living in the premises of an abandoned gold mine, it was observed that more women lost their lives than men. Natural calamities exacerbate the pre-existing gender gap and further marginalise women (Sarkar and Bandopadhyay, p 124). They also lower the life expectancy of women (Neumayer & Plümper)
Women are more at risk of developing long-term diseases because of the pressures put on them by climate extremities. Older women, for example, suffer more when there are heatwaves. Pregnant women can go into preterm labour affecting both their own and their child’s health. They can also develop cardiovascular diseases. Referring to results from the United Nations (UN), Sarkar and Bandopadhyay explain:
“Severe heat increases the risk of stillbirths, while climate change exacerbates the proliferation of vector-borne diseases such as malaria, dengue fever, and Zika virus, which are associated with worse maternal and newborn outcomes” (Sarkar and Bandopadhyay, p 91).
Increase in Domestic Violence and the Mechanisms Linking Disasters & Violence
Natural disasters and climate shocks do not create gender-based violence out of thin air, but they aggravate existing inequalities and stressors that make violence more likely and harder to escape. Research across diverse contexts shows that climate disasters are frequently followed by spikes in domestic and intimate partner violence, as well as other forms of abuse against women and girls, through multiple reinforcing pathways.
Mechanisms Linking Disasters and Violence
Climate disasters – including cyclones, floods, droughts, heatwaves and wildfires – set off a chain of social and economic disruptions that can heighten tensions, stress, and conflict within households and communities. These mechanisms include:
- Stress, loss of livelihoods, and economic insecurity: the loss of income, assets, and stable housing places enormous psychological and financial strain on families. Such stressors are strongly linked to increased conflict and aggression. Post-disaster uncertainty and diminished coping resources can trigger violent behaviours as negative coping strategies (source: UN Women Expert Paper).
- Breakdown of social order and support systems: disasters often disrupt community networks, access to services, and legal protection. Reduced presence of law enforcement or social services can remove informal and formal safeguards that might otherwise deter violence or offer survivors support (source: BMJ Global Health).
- Mental health distress and substance abuse: elevated levels of anxiety, depression, and alcohol or substance use after disasters can exacerbate household tensions, increasing the risk of intra-family violence, including intimate partner violence (source: UNFPA).
These stressors do not cause violence directly, but they create conditions that amplify pre-existing gendered power imbalances and make violence more frequent and severe.
Sexual Violence
A direct link is observed between extreme weather events and early marriage (Banerji, Nandita). Worse still, genital mutilation and trafficking are also observed as a consequence of a lack of resources. The negative effects of genital mutilation are not limited to psychological and physiological pain right after, but it also has long-term health impacts. Chronic pain, menstrual problems, cysts and abnormal scarring are just some of the examples of the long-term impacts of genital mutilation (UN Women). Although genital mutilation is also a part of culture in many cases, natural disasters such as floods and droughts are seen to increase the chances of it (Luo, Pingxuan).
As for human trafficking, some women are kidnapped, and others are sold by their own family. Natural disasters take away many income sources. With a lack of resources and pressure to earn money, some women choose to go into prostitution simply to be able to meet their own and their family’s needs. Additionally, women can be forced into transactional sexual interactions. With little or no access to healthcare, the chances of sexually transmitted diseases such as HIV increase.
Patterns in Different Contexts
Displacement and Camp Settings
When families are forced to flee their homes after storms, floods, or other climate shocks, they often end up in displacement camps, overcrowded shelters, or informal settlements. These settings can exacerbate tensions and heighten risks:
- Crowded, insecure living conditions reduce privacy and safety, increasing women’s exposure to both intimate partner violence and opportunistic assault by others (source: UNHCR).
- Lack of adequate facilities and safeguards in emergency shelters – such as secure lighting, separate sanitation, and gender-sensitive reporting mechanisms – can leave survivors with few safe avenues for relief.
- Displacement itself severs social support networks and community oversight, which otherwise help buffer against abuse (source: UNDP).
For example, studies of post-disaster contexts have documented significant increases in reported domestic violence: one historical case found that after two severe tropical cyclones hit the Tafea province in Vanuatu in 2011, the Tanna’s Women’s Counselling Centre reported a 300% increase in new domestic violence cases compared with pre-disaster levels (source: UNDP).
Reinforcement of pre-existing violence
It can be noted that natural disasters ‘’pull back the curtain’’ on existing gendered systems of control, inequality, and power imbalance. Climate shocks act as stress multipliers: they intensify economic precarity, weaken protective social structures, and intersect with discriminatory norms that already limit women’s autonomy and safety (source: BMJ Global Health).
In many societies, violence against women and girls is rooted in structural inequalities – including patriarchy, economic marginalisation, and restrictive gender norms – that predate any disaster. When a climate crisis strikes, these underlying conditions are exacerbated, making violence both more likely and difficult to escape.
By understanding these pathways, it becomes clear that addressing climate disasters and gender-based violence must happen together – disaster response and climate adaptation strategies cannot succeed unless they also confront the socio-cultural roots of violence and protect vulnerable women and girls at every step.
Increased Risk of Violence Outside the Home and in Displacement Settings
Exposure to Violence Outside the Household
Climate disasters don’t just increase risks inside a home – they also elevate women’s exposure to violence in public and semi-public spaces:
- Tasked with resource collection: in many disaster-affected areas, women and girls are still responsible for fetching water, firewood, food, and other essentials. After flooding, drought, or storm events, this often means longer isolated journeys through unfamiliar or unsafe terrain, where risks of harassment, assault and opportunistic violence rise sharply. Research from Bangladesh’s char and hair regions reports that women and girls avoid travelling to rivers or resource points due to fear of harassment, saying they ‘’try to go in groups’’ to feel safer.
- Poor infrastructure increases risks: displacement and shelter settings often lack adequate lighting, secure latrines, and gender-segregated facilities. This creates environments where women feel unsafe moving outside shelters at night or using shared toilets – conditions directly linked to heightened risk of sexual harassment and assault (source: UN Bangladesh).
Displacement Camps and Emergency Shelters
In displacement and camp settings created after cyclones, floods, or storms, structural failures and overcrowding can compound vulnerabilities:
- Lack of safe infrastructure: temporary shelters frequently lack separate sleeping areas, sufficient lighting, and secure sanitation facilities, leaving women and girls exposed to harassment, theft, and sexual violence, especially after dark. In Bangladesh, women in cyclone shelters reported insecurity due to overcrowded conditions, inadequate spaces, and poor privacy, contributing to fear of assault, with many reluctant to even seek shelter for safety reasons.
- Breakdown of protective systems: traditional community norms and social networks that might once have provided oversight and informal protection are often weakened or disrupted after disasters. Meanwhile, law enforcement and formal protection mechanisms may be overwhelmed, understaffed, or absent, reducing accountability for perpetrators and leaving women with fewer avenues for resources or protection (source: The Daily Star).
Climate extremities can also call for migration. Although this is difficult for the whole family, women might suffer more. Due to the societal structure, women hold more household responsibilities and therefore have a deeper connection to the land and surrounding areas (Luo, Pingxuan). Along with this physical loss, they also lose access to their social support structures (Sarkar and Bandopadhyay, p 56). This increases stress in an environment where access to mental health aid is already limited or non-existent. Along with anxiety and other mental health challenges, it can also lead to stress-related diseases (Sarkar and Bandopadhyay, p 48).
In conclusion, it is apparent that climate disasters have a disproportionate effect on women. They face a range of adversities, ranging from sexual and intimate violence to emotional distress due to loss of social structures and increased domestic pressures. The fact that these gendered discrepancies persist is an indication of the lack of policy and social infrastructures to address these problems. Women continue to be left to fight their own battles with a severe scarcity of resources.