Disclaimer: This article was submitted to the LSE Undergraduate Political Review by a non-organisational author. The views expressed in this article are not necessarily endorsed by and/or reflective of the position of the LSEUPR.
For every 1°C increase in temperature, cases of intimate partner violence rise by 4.7%. — UN Spotlight Initiative Report, 2025
The emerging climate crisis has far-reaching impacts on vulnerable groups, especially women and children, but it is often described in newspapers in terms of rising temperatures and environmental damage. According to the UN Spotlight Initiative, changing climate temperatures not only worsen environmental conditions but also deepen the existing gender inequalities. This highlights that climate change serves as a factor that accelerates patriarchal challenge, thereby making it a critical concern for legal and social frameworks focused on protecting vulnerable populations. A 1°C rise in temperature is directly proportional to a 4.7% increase in the killing of a spouse, and with projected global warming to reach up to 3.5°C by century’s end, more than 100 million women are likely to face this violence each year. In addition to growing gender-based violence, climate change is also changing the narration of crimes, embedding in itself new forms of coercion and control within the marginalized groups of society. This piece challenges the traditional perspective by questioning how climate change is not only increasing existing vulnerabilities but also altering how gender-based violence is created and spreads across all marginalized groups of society. It also raises a question that when gender is addressed superficially instead of as a core issue of power in climate action, it further becomes a source of further exclusion and harm.
CLIMATE COLONIALISM REVISITED: THE GENDERED FACE OF EXTRACTION
It becomes extremely necessary to identify the colonial roots of the global climate system, as many environmental challenges originate from extractive economic policies, thereby exploiting women of lower castes and marginalized groups. This legacy continues to persist today, also, as in how climate finance, mitigation strategies, and adaptation policies are conceived and executed by the government at its grassroots level.
The UN report explicitly highlights that only 0.4% of climate-related development assistance is directed towards gender equality, which indicates that there is both a lack of funding and prevalent challenges in traditional knowledge systems. Current climate frameworks are more focused on technology and carbon-based measures, and ultimately overlook the conditions of those most affected, including women in informal settlements, individuals with disabilities, and LGBTQ+ persons.
At the grassroots level, this erasure leads to adaptation projects that displace women of indigenous communities without consulting them, thereby increasing their exclusion from access to necessities. It also leads to reforestation initiatives, which bar women from gathering forest products and “green infrastructure” projects, which prioritizes male employment over female, thus marginalizing women’s livelihoods. These practices and policies reflect existing gender disparities and undermine the participation of women in the climate-related decision-making process.
Surprisingly, these exclusions are not a mere accident. Instead, it perceives women as passive recipients of assistance rather than active political participants. This approach forms a root cause of climate colonialism, where vulnerability is attached to women and power and solutions-based strategy are associated with men, reinforcing existing power hierarchies under the guise of sustainability.
The result of this exclusion constitutes a dual form of violence– one arising out of climate-induced insecurity, and the structural violence due to gender disparities embedded within climate response measures. This duality creates both immediate harm and systematic inequality against “she and they gender”, underscoring the urgent need for a comprehensive, gender-responsive legal and policy framework which addresses both dimensions effectively.
VIOLENCE BY OMISSION: WHEN POLICY SILENCES SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORDS
Most analyses of gender-based violence due to climate change are focused only on disasters and their aftermath consequences, including trafficking, child marriage, and sexual exploitation. However, there is a lack of attention to forms of violence that occur due to discrepancies in policy frameworks and the everyday structural neglect present in these documents. For instance, multiple studies have consistently highlighted that disaster shelters are extremely unsafe for women as they
have inadequate lighting, a lack of privacy, the absence of female staff, and poor sanitation, all increasing the risks of sexual harassment and exploitation. Despite this, shelter design often remains gender-neutral in policy and on paper, catering only to male needs and perspectives.
Furthermore, climate-oriented agriculture programs require proof of ownership, title deed, credit, and digital resources, to which rural women are denied access due to ancestral property and literacy gaps. Such policies, which are intended to assist, can deepen precarity by failing to address the dismantled gender structure of society. Additionally, there is a lack of representation of the most affected people, and their voices go unheard. In international and national summits about climate negotiations, women are rarely represented and are not allowed to hold agenda-setting roles. As a result, the language of inclusion is used in a way that ultimately undermines the interests of those it purports to represent.
TOWARD A TRANSFORMATIVE POLITICS OF CLIMATE AND GENDER
The urgent need of the hour is a gender-responsive climate strategy, which supports feminist civil society and prioritizes women’s leadership while integrating gender-based violence prevention into climate policies. These measures must be rooted in a transformative approach, moving beyond mere inclusion on papers to practically reorient climate governance.
Firstly, climate governance should work in discarding its technocratic approach and adopt intersectionality as a fundamental principle. This entails the gathering of gender-specific data not only regarding emissions but also about land ownership, service accessibility, and forms of violence. Moreover, the state should work in supporting feminist research that explores the local connections between climate and gender instead of presuming one-size-fits-all solutions.
Secondly, climate finance systems should be reorganized to focus on feminist and Indigenous organizations as key drivers of change, acknowledging their deep-rooted knowledge in sustainable resource management and community resilience. Investing directly in their leadership is both a strategic move and an ethical necessity.
Thirdly, legal and policy frameworks associated with climate change must be amended to recognize gender-based violence (GBV) as a multiplier of climate risks. This essentially means that every climate resilience strategy must integrate anti-violence actions within urban development, disaster readiness, and environmental regulations, ensuring that they undergo gender-based risk assessment annually.
Fourthly, climate education should be grounded in feminist pedagogy, focusing on environmental defects, in addition to addressing power structures, capitalism, socialism, and the root causes of ecological damage. The Ministry of Environment should partner with the Ministry of Women and Child Development to create policies that is inclined towards the populations that are most affected. Panchayati Raj Institutions should receive gender training and necessary resources, and state climate action plans should incorporate protocols for responding to gender-based violence.
CONCLUSION
The climate crisis is intricately linked to gender problems, both in terms of its effects and the shortcomings of existing solutions. The UN Report reveals not only alarming statistics but also a failure to acknowledge the interconnectedness between climate change and gender-based violence. Historically, the former is viewed as an environmental challenge, whereas the latter is conceived as a social stigma, but evidence shows that both are closely linked and intensify each other.
A climate-resilient India requires structural transformation, and not just superficial inclusivity. It is the need of the hour to dismantle the patriarchal norms, as with every degree of warming, 2% rights and futures of women from diverse gender backgrounds are disproportionately impacted. Greenwashed solutions, which have been followed for past long time, seem insufficient, and what is needed is politics rooted in care, justice, and structural transformation, which positions gender equity and equality at every stage of climate response.
Written by Ankita Jain and Kinjal Alok
About the Author: Ankita Jain and Kinjal Alok are 4th Year Law Students at the Maharashtra National Law University, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar. They have published articles on various areas of international law and governance.
