South Africa: Climate Change Hits South African Women Unevenly: Why Race, Class, Age and Power Matter

Apr 28, 2026 | Petra Holden, Gina Ziervogel, and Leigh Stadler
The Conversation
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As heat, floods and drought intensify, governments, donors and cities rely on climate risk assessments to decide who gets support and where money goes. A climate risk assessment uses information on climate hazards, exposure, vulnerability and responses to identify where, who or what is most at risk to climate impacts.

When climate shocks such as heat waves, droughts or floods strike, women are often described as vulnerable. But women are not a uniform group and they don’t all experience climate impacts in the same way.