The climate crisis is not gender neutral. As record-breaking heatwaves sweep across Asia, Europe, and North America, and climate-related disasters intensify worldwide, the urgency of involving women in climate policy is even more important. Women and girls experience the greatest impact of climate change and have the least capacity to respond to climate-related disasters. Yet, women's unequal participation in policy, decision making and labour markets continues to sideline them from shaping climate solutions and ultimately limits countries' ability to prepare and respond to climate hazards.
The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) acknowledged the importance of gender equality in climate negotiations, establishing a dedicated agenda item on gender and climate change and including overarching text in the Paris Agreement. However, to what extent this translates into tangible policy remains uncertain. Despite the UNFCCC Gender Action Plan adopted at COP23, women's representation in country delegations has remained low since then. Two years ago, the COP29 Presidency did not include a single woman in its 28-person Organising Committee, adding 12 women following social pressure.
At the summit itself, around one in three national delegates were women. No COP since 2008 has achieved equal representation of women party delegates, with a particularly low point at COP21, when women represented one in five party delegates. Although the Paris Agreement, adopted a decade ago, acknowledges the need for gender-responsive policies, women's empowerment remains an ambition. Most countries have only taken up these commitments to a limited extent in their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), and 43 countries make no mention of women's health or wellbeing.1
We are at a pivotal moment to close this gender gap. Last year at COP30, governments adopted the Belém Health Action Plan and the Belém Gender Action Plan, laying a framework for progress on the intersections of climate with health and gender. In the lead-up to COP31 in Antalya, there is a real opportunity to bring these two agendas together.
Climate change has a disproportionate impact on women compared to men, particularly in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC). Pregnant women are especially vulnerable as climate change drives food and water security, heat stress, extreme weather events, and air pollution, all of which increase the risk of pregnancy and birth complications.2 Women also face an increased risk of death during heatwaves.3
Worldwide, populations that rely on natural resources and climate-vulnerable sectors (e.g., subsistence agriculture) for their livelihoods, as well as those experiencing poverty, are some of the most vulnerable to climate change. Women are over-represented in both groups. Furthermore, climate-induced extreme weather events are forcing migration and exacerbating conflicts, which expose women to increased risks of gender-based violence and exploitation. The UN estimates that up to 80% of people displaced by climate change are women, illustrating the unequal impact of climate change on multiple dimensions of health and life.4
Despite the barriers faced by women in great part due to gender-based discrimination, they hold huge potential to mitigate, adapt, and respond to climate change. This is particularly important as we have shown that the countries with the greatest gender inequality tend to be more vulnerable and less prepared to respond to the effects of climate change.5
In LMICs, women's local knowledge and leadership have been critical to sustainable practices at community level. For instance, in South Africa, women farmers are trained in agroecology and permaculture farming to overcome challenges posed by erratic weather conditions and climate change impacts.6
The same pattern is observed in decision-making. Globally, companies with more women on their boards are more likely to adopt eco-friendly policies than those dominated by men.7 Likewise, countries with a larger representation of women in government are more likely to ratify environmentally friendly policies.8 However, women remain underrepresented in both settings, held back by gender inequalities in labour markets and political systems worldwide.
As the world looks to COP31, now is the time for gender-responsive climate action that addresses women's health across the life course. Delivering on this means resourcing feminist movements and community networks to participate meaningfully in climate decision-making, establishing gender health vulnerability surveillance systems to inform policy and investment, and collecting sex- and gender-disaggregated health data to drive more responsive, effective health systems. For too long, women have carried the greatest burden of the climate crisis, now they must be recognised as central to the solution.
References:
- Pinho-Gomes AC, et al. Women's health and wellbeing prioritisation in climate change national adaptation plans: A cross-sectional policy document analysis across 163 countries. Environ Int. 2026. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2025.109811
- Ha S. The Changing Climate and Pregnancy Health. Curr Envir Health Rpt. 2022. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40572-022-00345-9
- Pinho-Gomes AC, et al. Sex differences in mortality associated with heatwaves: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Eur J Public Health. 2024. https://doi.org/10.1093/eurpub/ckae144.283
- UNICEF. The Climate Crisis is a Child Rights Crisis: Introducing the Children's Climate Risk Index. 2021. Accessed August 2026. https://www.unicef.org/media/105376/file/UNICEF-climate-crisis-child-rights-crisis.pdf
- Pinho-Gomes AC & Woodward M. The association between gender equality and climate adaptation across the globe. BMC Public Health. 2024. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-024-18880-5
- Chanyau, L. & Rosenberg E. Women farmers leading and co-learning in an agroecology movement at the intersections of gender and climate. Agenda. 2023. https://doi.org/10.1080/10130950.2023.2239313
- Wang Y, et al. Board gender diversity and organizational environmental performance: An international perspective. Curr Res Ecol Soc PS. 2023. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cresp.2023.100164
- Kandemir AS, et al. Women in parliaments and environmentally friendly fiscal policies: a global analysis. Sustainability. 2024. https://doi.org/10.3390/su16177669
