The climate crisis is the defining global crisis, and like several other aspects where inequity becomes central, here too the uneven impact is huge, but often goes unnoticed. In India, women and children are key pillars of our communities, but unfortunately, they face the highest risks. This is not just an environmental issue; it is a force that burrows and goes deeper into existing social, economic, and health inequities which strike hardest upon the most vulnerable. Although greater awareness has grown about the gender and children’s dimensions of the climate crisis, these concerned groups continue to be sidelined in deliberation and decision-making. To face this challenge squarely, we need to rethink resilience and center efforts toward empowering women and children.
In India, women make up nearly 80% of the agrarian workforce, yet they’ve for long had limited access to essentials like land, credit, and new technologies. This leaves them especially vulnerable to the growing threats of the climate crisis. Climate disasters don’t just destroy homes and livelihoods; they deepen existing inequalities in access to healthcare, clean water, and sanitation. Women and children bear the brunt of this cascading impact, trapped at the harshest end of the crisis.
Another interesting perspective comes from the Global Gender and Climate Alliance (GGCA), which found in its study that even though women are responsible for producing 60-80% of the food produced worldwide in developing countries, they are much less likely to have access to climate-adaptive tools, such as resilient seeds or modern farming techniques. When crops fail due to droughts or floods, it’s women who bear the immediate brunt—losing income while struggling to stretch limited food resources to feed their families, indirectly also impacting their health and well-being. This added burden of labour, brought on by the climate crisis, not only deepens their poverty but locks them into a cycle of disadvantage, including debt burden, displacement and migration, among other challenges. The intersecting impacts of the climate crisis and gender inequality are impossible to ignore, especially as they trap women in ever-narrowing options for survival and growth.
For women and children, the climate crisis isn’t just a threat to livelihoods or education—it’s a full-scale health crisis. The World Health Organization reports that women are 14 times more likely than men to die in climate-induced disasters due to entrenched inequalities. In the Ahmedabad heatwaves, for example, women’s mortality rates far outpaced those of men. The risks for pregnant women and young mothers are especially high, compounded by a lack of nutrition and health care that pushes India’s already alarming maternal and child mortality rates higher. These are not just statistics—they represent mothers, daughters, and caregivers whose loss leaves families and communities vulnerable, aside from the economic impact. Water scarcity is an obvious consequence of the climate crisis, and hereto the burden of walking that extra mile to fetch water falls on women.
The climate crisis further exacerbates food insecurity, driving malnutrition and stunted growth in children. Displacement interferes with schooling, mainly for young girls, depriving them of a lifetime of education and potential earnings. Worse, it becomes a root cause of early marriage and resultant health issues in young girls. We are paving the way for a generation trapped by the combined forces of inequality and environmental collapse, impacting their health, education, and future prospects.
To mitigate the gendered impacts of the climate crisis, India’s policy framework must become more inclusive. The policies currently in place mention gender but often overlook the complex role women play in household and community resilience. For example, a 2023 study by Question of Cities found that 12 of the 28 State Action Plans on the climate crisis don’t even mention gender, signaling an urgent need for improvement.
Women, especially in rural and indigenous communities, have long been the backbone of natural resource management and environmental stewardship. Their deep-rooted traditional knowledge, coupled with their role as caregivers, positions them as powerful agents of change in both mitigating and adapting to climate impacts. Yet, despite their pivotal role, women are disproportionately the victims of the climate crisis, while being sidelined from solutions.
This exclusion is particularly glaring in climate policy and disaster management, where women’s voices are largely absent. In India, this gap is even more pronounced at the grassroots level, where women bear the brunt of climate disasters but are least represented in decision-making. Despite this, the potential for change is immense. Women’s self-help groups, farmer-producer organisations (FPOs), and grassroots collectives have already demonstrated their ability to manage resources efficiently and mobilise communities in times of crisis. These frameworks offer a ready platform for women to take charge of addressing the climate crisis.
What’s needed now are inclusive policies that not only acknowledge women’s leadership but actively promote and empower them to spearhead climate action. By harnessing their knowledge, experience, and organizational capacity, we can turn the tide on the climate crisis while ensuring that those most affected become the driving force behind the solutions. Women are not just victims; they are the key to climate resilience. Women and children should be at the forefront of climate policy design and decision-making processes. Whether through formal representation in local governance or through community-led initiatives, their voices are essential to crafting solutions that are both effective and equitable.
India, as a leader in global climate negotiations and as a nation deeply vulnerable to climate impacts, must take bold steps to ensure that its climate policies are not only sustainable but also equitable. The government’s initiatives, such as the National Action Plan on the climate crisis (NAPCC) and various state-level programmes, are a good start but lack a strong gender lens. The principal lens to judge the success of a climate plan has to be the lens of equity.
If India ignores the needs of women and children in its climate action agenda, it risks undermining its social and economic future. Without a strong gender lens, initiatives like the NAPCC will fall short of their potential, leaving millions more vulnerable to the growing threats of the climate crisis. By sidelining women and children—who are the hardest hit yet essential to community resilience—India risks deepening existing inequalities, worsening poverty, and stunting long-term economic growth. Failure to act now will lock future generations into cycles of deprivation and lost opportunities, eroding the country’s ability to lead on the global climate stage and build a sustainable, equitable future for all its citizens. Bold, inclusive action is not just a choice—it’s an economic and social imperative.
This article is authored by CK Mishra, former secretary, ministry of health and family welfare and ministry of environment, forest and the climate crisis, New Delhi.
