Gendered Impacts of Climate Change : Evidence from Weather Shocks

Climate change is one of the defining challenges of our time. While the impacts of climate changeon people’s well-being can hardly be denied, it may not be as obvious that the impacts could differ by gender. However,as the COVID-19 pandemic has shown, a shock can impact men and women differently due to social norms and pre-existinggender differences. This paper reviews the economic literature linking weather shocks (such as floods, droughts,and extreme temperatures, among others) and a large range of outcomes (from endowments to economic opportunities andagency). Men and women indeed have specific vulnerabilities and exposures. Specific physiological vulnerabilities arerelatively minor: boys are more vulnerable to shocks in utero and girls and women to heat. The biggest genderedimpacts are due to existing gaps and social responses to shocks. In places with strong boy preferences, familiesfacing scarcity due to disasters are more likely to give food and other resources to boys, take their daughters outof school or marry them young, or withdraw women from agricultural work so they focus on household chores. Duringor after weather shocks, boys can also be taken out of schools to be put at work and men working in agriculture areoften forced to migrate to find alternative sources of income. Unless climate policy acknowledges and accounts forthese differences, climate change will remain an amplifier of existing gender inequalities.