Why a just transition can’t leave women workers behind
Women workers across industries — including agriculture and manufacturing — and within the informal economy are already bearing the brunt of the climate crisis as structural inequality and exploitative conditions are made worse by climate impacts such as rapidly rising temperatures and floods.
These photos highlight the impacts of climate change on women workers, including physical, mental, sexual and economic harms recognized as workplace violence under International Labour Organization Convention 190 on Violence and Harassment in the World of Work. They also highlight how women workers through their unions and collectives are working tirelessly to defend their rights.
Ensuring a just transition for all women workers
As world leaders gather in Bakú, Azerbaijan to advance global climate goals at COP29, scientists have found 2024 on track to be the hottest year on record as warming temporarily hits 1.5° compared to pre-industrial levels.
Climate change is deeply intertwined with inequality. The most vulnerable people bear the brunt of climate change impacts, yet they have contributed the least to the emissions causing warming in the first place. As the impacts of climate change increase in intensity and frequency, millions of vulnerable people face disproportionate challenges — including marginalized women workers at the very tail end of global supply chains.
“As many low- and middle-income countries scale back labor rights and social protections, the burdens of the global economy and climate change fall disproportionately on women workers from socially, racially, and economically marginalized communities. These women are often compelled to take on precarious and unsafe employment while being excluded from the protections of labor laws,” explained Ameena Kidwai, senior research lead at People’s Courage International, a non-profit that seeks to build the resilience of vulnerable communities globally, particularly informal workers, internal migrants, and historically excluded communities, by connecting grassroots action and systems change efforts.
A just transition towards a carbon-neutral economy must deliver climate justice and address the inequalities and urgent challenges faced by women workers. But for that to happen, more climate finance — 90% is currently going towards mitigation — needs to go towards adaptation and ensuring communities can cope with already urgent climate impacts.
The heat is rising for women garment workers
The fashion industry runs on the exploited labor of 75 million garment workers, the vast majority of whom are women of color. These women live in climate-vulnerable communities and are often the sole providers for their families. They are paid poverty wages, subjected to gender-based violence, and denied basic rights like reproductive health care, explained Ayesha Barenblat, founder of Remake, an organization working to improve justice and sustainability in the fashion industry.
Photo: Remake
Photo: Remake
Photo: Remake
Photo: Remake
Photo: Remake
“It's becoming increasingly hot. But we cannot get up and drink water repeatedly because we are piece-rate workers. So we’d lose money if we take breaks,” explained a worker from Faisalabad, Pakistan.
“The other day 2 or 3 young men fainted because of the severe heat. Yesterday I got really ill from the heat and also fainted. Then my supervisor took me home. Yesterday I was faint almost all day,” said another worker.
"What we've heard from workers across South Asia is that the factory workplaces are already hot. The machines are hot, you have a lot of people packed into the assembly line. And now, because of record temperatures, we're seeing an increase of fainting, of dizziness, of health concerns, but these are not being tabulated and collected as directly correlated to the climate crisis."
The Asia Floor Wage Alliance, an Asian labor-led social alliance of over 60 trade unions and labor rights organizations, has been working to strengthen trade unions regionally across Asian garment production countries to address poverty-level wages, gender discrimination, and freedom of association in global garment production networks.
Women garment workers face a hostile environment rife with verbal abuse, sexual harassment, and threats of violence. In one case, AFWA documented a supplier factory's failure to address contaminated drinking water caused by extreme weather brought on by climate change. A worker recounted how her supervisor mocked her, saying her "bad face" was to blame for not receiving clean drinking water. As temperatures rise, so does the pressure and harassment.
Photo: Asia Floor Wage Alliance
According to AFWA, reports of extreme heat have surfaced in garment factories across Asia, revealing systemic issues that disproportionately affect women.
“Addressing these challenges requires systemic solutions, including supporting freedom of association and collective bargaining, which can facilitate climate- and gender-focused agreements and create just, safe workplaces for women,” said Ashley Saxby, gender justice coordinator at AFWA.
AFWA campaigns demand that fashion brands engage in meaningful dialogue with trade unions representing supply chain workers to develop concrete solutions, including binding agreements to address pervasive gender-based violence and harassment and poverty-level wages to enable workers to build resilience against climate-related crises.
“In Cambodia, unionized garment workers have negotiated workplace heat stress agreements and new research shows that workers with a union that negotiates over heat stress experience 74% fewer minutes at high core body temperatures,” explained Sonia Mistry, climate and labor justice director at the Solidarity Center, an international worker rights organization that provides training, organizing, legal assistance, and other resources that strengthen workers' capacity to build unions and take collective action. Collaborating with unions and workers' organizations in more than 60 countries, they connect partners and share best practices to accelerate worker-driven climate action.
“The harrowing conditions faced by women garment workers across Asia highlight the urgent need for radical transformation in the global garment industry, especially as climate-related crises gain momentum. Real change demands that brands — especially those championing gender equality and sustainability — commit to genuine worker-led solutions that uphold the rights and dignity of the women workers who sustain the industry,” said Saxby.
How climate change is impacting women workers in agriculture
“Climate change has profoundly impacted agricultural production in Central and South America. People from community organizations we collaborate with share how prolonged droughts in their regions are reducing field productivity, limiting the availability of products to sell and their ability to meet their families' basic needs,” said Verónica Rodríguez, Periplo Project Manager at Fundación Avina, a Latin-American foundation working to advance sustainable development.
In the face of these challenges, many people who lose their livelihoods are forced to migrate in search of new opportunities. “We find that while labor migration can be an alternative, it also exposes migrants to abusive recruitment and employment conditions, as well as violations of labor rights, especially in sectors with high labor demand and lower wages, such as agriculture. These vulnerabilities are even more severe for women workers, who also face risks of insecurity and violence, both on their journeys and in agricultural workplaces in northern Mexico, the United States, and Canada,” said Rodríguez.
Tea estate workers in Sreemangal, Bangladesh, say their work is much harsher now due to increased heat and more torrential rains, which put their health at risk and sometimes make it impossible to reach their daily quota, cutting into their already meager wages, explained Solidarity Center's Mistry.
“As if snake bites, exposure to toxic chemicals, and extreme heat were not severe enough workplace hazards, outdoor workers from Brazil to Bangladesh now report growing concerns about lightning strikes resulting from intensifying and sudden storms,” said Mistry.
An estimated 13 million people in 48 countries work on tea plantations, mostly women who are paid low wages and have few or no health and safety protections, especially those employed informally.
Photo: Solidarity Center / Gayatree Arun
“During dry seasons, laborers, especially women who are the majority, have to spend most of their time in the plantation plucking tea leaves because the weight of the buds is usually low and the payments are determined by kilos plucked in a day,” said Violet Shivutse, founder and coordinator of Shibuye Community Health Workers, a community-based organization in Kenya working to improve women's health and access to health services.
Extreme weather events exacerbate existing inequalities, including women’s lack of land rights, making them more vulnerable to losing their livelihoods as climate conditions worsen, according to Shivutse.
Photo: Shibuye Community Health Workers
Women are not represented in tea sector committees and leadership roles, which increases their vulnerability to harassment and exploitation. Critical policies regarding workplace safety and anti-harassment measures are often designed without considering the unique challenges women face.
That's why Shibuye focuses on empowering women in the tea sector by facilitating community dialogues to elevate women's voices regarding harassment and exploitation, promoting their active participation to recognize their rights, and raising awareness of the importance of women's representation in leadership.
How climate change is making domestic workers more vulnerable
Ruth Díaz, a domestic workers’ leader from the Dominican Republic, President of the National Federation of Women Workers, and member of the International Domestic Workers Federation Executive Committee. Photo: The National Federation of Women Workers
Ruth Díaz, a domestic workers’ leader from the Dominican Republic, President of the National Federation of Women Workers, and member of the International Domestic Workers Federation Executive Committee. Photo: The National Federation of Women Workers
80% of domestic workers are women and most are employed in the informal sector, leaving them outside the bounds of labor law protections and exposed to workplace violence. “The nature of our work — carried out behind closed doors, alone with employers, and in conditions of power imbalances — creates a context that contributes to violence and harassment against us,” said Ruth Díaz, a domestic workers’ leader from the Dominican Republic, President of the National Federation of Women Workers, and member of the International Domestic Workers Federation Executive Committee.
Countries have not prepared effective household-level evacuation plans in response to climate change. There are evacuation plans for industries, companies, schools, and public and private institutions. However, they overlook the home, where rights also need to be guaranteed and human lives must be preserved in the face of disasters and evacuations, explained Díaz.
“From within our movement, we continue to fight tirelessly to be recognized, valued, and fairly compensated, like any other worker.”
Ensuring a just transition for home-based women workers
Janhavi Dave, the international coordinator of HomeNet International. Photo: Eduardo Derrico for HomeNet International
Janhavi Dave, the international coordinator of HomeNet International. Photo: Eduardo Derrico for HomeNet International
“Climate change impacts every being in the world, but the impact is felt manifold by workers who work from their own homes in informal settlements. Women home-based workers work from their homes at almost 50 degrees Celsius with low-to-no ventilation. During floods, their homes stagnate with water for almost a month. This has a direct impact on their health and livelihoods. They demand a seat at the table when the climate change policies and programs are designed. And, in the meantime, they want to partner with the local governments to develop and implement resilience programs jointly,” said Janhavi Dave, international coordinator of HomeNet International, a global network of home-based workers’ membership organizations representing more than 1.3 million workers from 71 organizations spread across 30 countries.
“Floods in Kenya’s Kano plains force entire communities to flee to nearby cities, as there are no hills or high ground to escape the rising waters. With roads submerged and bridges destroyed, many find themselves stranded along the roadside, waiting for help. In these vulnerable situations, the threat of predatory behavior and sexual harassment increases, as women and young girls are left exposed to greater risks with limited protection,” said Jemimah Nyakongo, a home-based worker from Kenya and treasurer at HomeNet International.
Improving the lives of street vendors
Lorraine Sibanda, President of StreetNet. Photo: Eduardo Derrico for StreetNet
Lorraine Sibanda, President of StreetNet. Photo: Eduardo Derrico for StreetNet
Climate change in the form of shifting weather patterns, intense heat waves, droughts and floods pose a huge threat to the productivity, livelihoods, and health of workers, both in the formal and informal economies, explained Lorraine Sibanda, the President of StreetNet International, a global organization representing street vendors, hawkers, and cross-border traders in more than 50 countries.
“Informal economy workers’ precariousness is on the rise because of the effects of disasters associated with climate change. Street and market vendors continue to provide essential services such as food to communities, despite being unrecognized, harassed and disrespected by many authorities as well as being ignored by national policies,” Sibanda said.
These essential workers have little or no social protection against disasters brought about by climate change. Through StreetNet, a global alliance to promote the labor and human rights of street vendors, present in over 50 countries, street vendors call for the extension of social protection to cover all workers.
“During the rainy season, it is difficult to sell items. We end up losing income for the day,” says Jovelyn Cottelion, a 45-year-old mother of four.
Her struggle is made worse by extreme weather events that regularly hit the coastal area around Payatas, the Philippines where she lives with her family. “When it rains heavily, it floods our house, and we cannot even sell anything from the store ... and if it floods during rains, only a few people come out to buy and the sales are much lower. I am unable to even get raw products from the market,” she said.
Jovelyn Cottelion, a 45-year-old street worker. Photo: People's Courage International, Coping with Climate: How Extreme Weather is Already Impacting Migrant Workers
Climate change impacts on women workers exacerbate pre-existing social and economic exploitation and exclusion. “Women in Morocco’s agriculture sector and Bangladesh’s shrimp cultivation sector tell similar stories: if you want to drink water at work, you have to carry it from home. Women report that they drink as little as possible, because they lack the privacy and safety of basic toilets. As high temperatures become the new normal, women have had to bargain over access to the most basic necessities, like water and toilets,” said Solidarity Center's Mistry.
How can we advance a just transition?
Global attention to climate transitions is a critical opportunity. The estimated 20 million new jobs that will be created as part of climate transitions are an opportunity to build back better.
However, a just transition for all workers — including women workers — requires commitment to inclusion, agency, and accountability, supported by four pillars: decent work, freedom of association, collective bargaining, and social protection.
Inclusive and gender-just adaptation requires us to examine the ongoing and intensifying negative climate impacts that women workers are facing now — and how they further entrench structural inequality. Resilience requires us to ensure that impacted workers have the capacity to recover and reverse injustice from climate impacts.
“We shouldn't underestimate the importance of trade unions — they are the only legally protected organizations of workers that can negotiate binding and enforceable agreements with employers. Women workers know best what they need, and when they can organize unions and bargain, they are highly effective at advancing inclusive climate solutions. This effectiveness can also carry over into policy-making spaces,” said Solidarity Center's Mistry.
The immediate felt impacts of climate change — such as increasing heat and flooding — on women workers is igniting organizing by women workers through their collectives and trade unions. Women workers are not only taking action to transform their workplaces, but also using this entry point to engage in local, national, and global policy conversations on climate mitigation and just transitions.
To advance global efforts toward climate justice, we must strengthen our existing alliances for justice — and forge new ones. This will require strengthening partnerships between workers and their allies, the climate and gender justice movements, and forging a vision for the future together with industry and government actors.
Sponsored by
Visit Women Rising — a new narrative series spotlighting the intersection of gender-based violence and harassment and climate change in the world of work.
This content is sponsored by FORGE. To learn more, visit the series website.
Get the latest news from this content series in the daily must-read global development newsletter.
Built with Shorthand