Among the bad news related to the ill effects of climate change is that women are impacted disproportionately by the resulting disasters. Women are more likely to experience poverty, poorer health outcomes and increased vulnerability to sexual violence due to climate-related disaster events, such as floods, storms and drought.
New research that aims to quantitatively assess the drivers of suffering from disasters across less developed nations—with specific emphasis on gender relations—affirms this fact, but also reveals some good news: women who are economically empowered have a disproportionately positive impact on disaster outcomes—reducing the overall number of people affected.