Key Details
UN Women’s November 2026 fact sheet, Gender Equality in the Age of Climate Crisis, combines a gender-and-climate vulnerability map with evidence on climate impacts and modelled employment outcomes. The map identifies risk; the jobs figures are global scenarios.
Finding | What the Fact Sheet Shows |
|---|---|
Gender-and-climate hotspots | At least 1.5 billion women and girls live in countries classified as hotspots, mostly in sub-Saharan Africa and Central and Southern Asia. India is in the highest vulnerability quartile of the 95 countries and areas mapped. |
Low-carbon transition without gender policies | In one modelled scenario, women receive about 2% of net new jobs by 2035. |
Gender-responsive transition | Adding investment in care, social protection, education and skills could create 68 million additional jobs for women globally by 2035. More than half are projected in sub-Saharan Africa and Central and Southern Asia combined. |
Climate-policy gap | Of 100 national climate plans assessed by UN Women, 73 acknowledge gender-specific climate risks, but just over one-third address them comprehensively. |
Climate Risk Depends on More Than Exposure
UN Women’s hotspot measure considers where women and girls live, how severely a climate shock could affect their livelihoods, and their ability to prepare, respond and recover. Land rights, income, social protection and decision-making power therefore matter alongside exposure to floods, droughts or heat.
India’s placement in the highest quartile signals a compounded national risk. It does not mean that vulnerability is uniform across Indian states, communities or households. The fact sheet does not provide an India-specific estimate of women affected or jobs that could be created.
A Green Transition Does Not Guarantee Jobs for Women
The employment scenarios show why the design of a transition matters. In the model, low-carbon investment without accompanying gender policies produces new jobs, but women receive only a small share. A broader scenario that also funds care services, social protection and skills generates substantially more employment for women.
The projected 68 million additional jobs are a global result of that combined scenario—not jobs attributed to renewable energy alone, and not a target or forecast for India. Central and Southern Asia is one of two regions where more than half of those jobs are projected to be concentrated.
Climate Plans Recognise Risks More Often Than They Address Them
The fact sheet finds that many national climate plans now mention women’s climate risks, while far fewer respond to them comprehensively. Care, health and gender-based violence receive particularly limited attention. That gap matters because climate shocks can increase unpaid work and economic insecurity even when a plan recognises that women are vulnerable.
Policy Relevance
For India, the findings connect two policy tasks often handled separately: reducing women’s exposure and sensitivity to climate shocks, and ensuring they can benefit from new employment. Adaptation measures will have different effects depending on women’s access to land, reliable water, income and social protection. Likewise, green-sector training may have limited reach if unpaid care responsibilities or barriers to entry remain unchanged.
The useful test for policymakers is practical: which women can access climate-resilient livelihoods and emerging jobs, what prevents others from doing so, and whether those barriers are being measured and addressed.
Follow the Full Fact Sheet Here: Gender Equality in the Age of Climate Crisis