By Salifu Faridat
Recent research conducted by the Adrienne Arsht-Rockefeller Foundation Resilience Center (Arsht-Rock) has issued a stark warning that approximately 204,000 women in Nigeria, India, and America could face annual fatalities due to heat waves.
As the planet experiences more frequent and severe heat waves, women are expected to bear the brunt of these extreme weather conditions, putting their livelihoods, earnings, and lives at risk.
The in-depth study titled ‘The Scorching Divide,’ carried out by the U.S.-based nonprofit organization, Arsht-Rock, focused on India, Nigeria, and the United States.
The report highlighted that extreme heat could lead to the death of 204,000 women every year across these three countries during hot years.
The impact of rising temperatures disproportionately affects women, both at home and in the workplace.
In countries like Nigeria, where heat worsens tropical diseases such as malaria and yellow fever, mothers face the ‘double burden’ of caring for themselves and sick family members, resulting in hours of unpaid work.
Nigerian doctors are advocating for better-ventilated hospitals and recommending that pregnant women working outdoors take breaks of at least three hours.
“Pregnant women are at greater risk of heat-related deaths as increasing temperatures affect fetal growth and complicate the overall health of expectant mothers,” said Samuel Adebayo, a gynecologist in Lagos.
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The Arsht-Rock report cited data from the World Health Organization (WHO) and revealed that Nigeria accounts for 20 percent of global maternal deaths, with 58,000 women dying each year. The escalating heat adds another layer of complication to the existing challenges.
Kathy Baughman McLeod, Director of Arsht-Rock, emphasized that extreme heat significantly impacts women, making them more vulnerable to heat-related illnesses and forcing them to care for others who are also suffering from the heat, whether paid or unpaid care.
With heatwaves breaking records globally, the continuous emission of planet-heating pollutants from the use of coal, oil, and gas threatens to push temperatures to unprecedented levels in the coming years.
As a result, women will have to work longer hours, often outdoors on farms or performing unpaid domestic work such as cooking and cleaning, while earning less money or no income at all.
The report highlighted that women from marginalized communities will suffer the most significant blow to their productivity as the average number of severely hot days is projected to double by 2050 in India, Nigeria, and the United States.
Unfortunately, many women in poverty cannot afford cooling solutions like air-conditioning, leading to productivity losses amounting to approximately $120 billion annually across the three countries.
The report also pointed out that women spend nearly twice as much time as men on household work and caregiving, making them more susceptible to heat-related health issues.
To address this crisis, researchers and experts are urging urgent action to mitigate the effects of heat on women’s lives and livelihoods.
They stress that these deaths and illnesses are preventable, but the need to take immediate action is paramount as the situation worsens due to escalating emissions.
