India’s discourse on women’s workforce participation is increasingly informed by evidence on the structural barriers that shape women’s economic choices and opportunities. Research has consistently highlighted the importance of childcare, mobility, safety, social norms, access to skills and the availability of decent work in determining whether women can enter and remain in the labour market. Yet one dimension of women’s economic participation has received considerably less attention: the burden of extreme heat on women’s work.
A growing body of research examines the gendered impacts of climate change, documenting differences in women’s exposure to climate risks, health outcomes, livelihoods, unpaid care responsibilities and economic security. However, considerably less attention has been given to a related question: to what extent can increasing climate stress affect women’s ability to enter, remain in or sustain participation in the labour force?
The Hidden Cost of Heat on Women’s Work
The latest Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) provides an important starting point. In 2025, 10.5% of women who were outside the labour force reported health or age-related reasons for not participating. This does not establish a causal relationship between heat and labour force participation. However, it highlights health as an existing dimension of labour market exclusion- one that warrants greater attention as exposure to extreme heat increases.
The scale of the climate work nexus is already significant. The 2025 Lancet Countdown estimates that heat exposure resulted in 247 billion potential labour hours lost in India in 2024 with agriculture accounting for 66% and construction for a further 20%. The associated potential income loss from reduced labour capacity was estimated at USD 194 billion. Yet even this major assessment does not provide a gender disaggregated estimate of these labour losses. We know the overall economic cost of extreme heat and yet again there is less known about who bears that cost and women are probably among those most affected. This matters because women are significantly represented in agriculture and a range of informal and precarious forms of work where access to cooling, paid leave, occupational health protection and flexible working arrangements is often limited or absent.
A 2025 study by the M S Swaminathan Research Foundation on “The Impact of heat on the health of women in India – A Cross-sectional Study” provides important gender specific evidence. Covering more than 3,300 women across 15 districts in seven states including Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh, the study examined the health and socioeconomic impacts of extreme heat on women as well as differences associated with occupation, poverty, caste and unpaid care responsibilities. 97% of respondents reported wage losses exceeding ₹1,500 during peak summer months.
This shifts the discussion beyond productivity alone. For women working without income protection, a heat-related reduction in productivity can translate directly into reduced earnings and greater household financial insecurity.
More recent evidence from southern India strengthens the case. A 2026 Scientific Reports study of 1,560 informal outdoor workers across 11 districts of Tamil Nadu found that elevated heat exposure was associated with a 1.4 fold higher risk of perceived productivity loss. The research documents heat related wage losses and called for workplace adaptation measures addressing working conditions, health protection and income security.
Furthermore, a recent 2026 report by HERA, “Counting the Cost of Heat: The Case for Urgent Solutions for Cities” reinforces this point by bringing together climate projections, health and labour productivity modelling, gender disaggregated economic analysis and qualitative evidence from informal women workers. Its analysis of Ahmedabad found that women in the informal economy lose an average 7% of their annual wages to extreme heat. The report also highlights how heat increases women’s unpaid workload- in Ahmedabad, women reported spending an additional 120 minutes on unpaid domestic work on heatwave days as routine household tasks take longer and caregiving demands increase.
Heat Does Not Affect All Women Equally
This is where an intersectional lens becomes critical, particularly when considering how socio-cultural norms shape women’s exposure and ability to adapt.
While writing about social expectations around modesty, medical journalists, Indu Subramanian and Christianez Ratna Kiruba argue that dressing appropriately for heat is a privilege. I have experienced a small part of this myself. I wear a scarf on my head, by choice, as part of my faith. In extreme heat, I am more conscious of how clothing, ventilation and access to cooling can shape physical comfort. Yet I also recognise the privilege embedded in my experience as an urban professional, I can access air-conditioning, breathable clothing, reliable electricity, indoor workspaces and limited exposure to cooking fires.
However, the experience is very different for a woman agricultural worker working outdoors, a domestic worker travelling between households, a woman working in a poorly ventilated home or a platform worker waiting for her next assignment on a Delhi street.
The 2026 HeatWatch study of women platform workers in Delhi-NCR illustrates this intersection of climate exposure, employment conditions and gender. 86% of respondents reported at least one heat-related health challenge, 69% reported reducing or stopping work because of heat-related illness, and 71% reported a decline in summer income.
These findings point to an important distinction- women do not experience climate risk uniformly. Caste, class, occupation, geography, housing conditions, access to technology, disability, pregnancy and access to social protection can all shape a woman’s ability to adapt to extreme heat. The academic evidence on the direct relationship between extreme heat and women’s labour-force participation in India, however, remains limited.
This evidence gap is itself a policy concern.
India Needs to Count the Women Behind the Heat Loss
A 2023 PLOS Climate analysis by Vijay S. Limaye highlights how the health and financial costs of extreme heat for women remain inadequately captured in climate economic assessments, particularly in the global south. The paper argues for greater recognition of these costs in adaptation and public-health planning. The implication is not that climate change should replace the established explanations for low female labour force participation. Rather, climate stress should be recognised as an additional structural condition that can interact with existing barriers to women’s economic participation.
This calls for greater convergence between climate adaptation, labour, social protection, public health and gender policy. It also calls for stronger public investment, updated policy frameworks, better gender disaggregated evidence and gender responsive heat action. The data and administrative mechanisms to respond already exist. The opportunity now is to build on them by recognising extreme heat not only as a public health concern but also as a workforce and economic resilience issue.
