Impacts of Climate-Induced Hydromet Hazards on Women’s Reproductive Health in India: An Assessment of Gender-Based Violence across Stages of Women's Lives

Saif Nihal, International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS), Mumbai, India
Anjali Sharma, International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS)
Amit Mitra, Independent Research Consultant
Soumya Swaminathan, Chairperson, M S Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF)
Nitya Rao, Professor, School of Global Development, University of East Anglia, Norwich

Climate change, a global challenge with diverse manifestations, is often studied from a homogeneous perspective. This study assesses the impact of different hydromet hazards on gender-based violence (GBV) in India, identifying spatial hotspots where exposure to climate change converges with different forms of GBV. Data on exposure to extreme hydromet hazards and women’s wellbeing indicators are obtained from the Council on Energy, Environment, and Water (CEEW) and the fourth and fifth rounds of the National Family Health Survey (NFHS), respectively. Hotspots with high climate exposure and GBV were identified through Geospatial analysis. The association between different hydromet hazards and GBV was determined through pooled logistic regression analysis. Exposure to cyclones, a sudden-onset hazard, has higher likelihood of dropout from minimum recommended Antenatal Care (60%), but exposure to drought, a slow-onset hazard, is likely to increase the dropouts by 38% compared to non-exposure to cyclone and droughts, respectively. The likely increase in intimate partner violence (IPV) is similar for drought (26%) and cyclones (27%). The impacts of floods are found to be lower. Districts in northern India are vulnerable to all types of GBV; however, southern Indian districts are hotspots for girl-child marriage and IPV. This study shows that association of hydromet hazards with GBV varies according to type of hazard and its impacts on economic and livelihood disruptions, displacement, stress, and gender norms. This study indicates the need for hazard-specific targeted interventions from a gendered perspective, particularly in spatial hotspots.

Keywords: Gender Dynamics, Population, Environment, and Climate Change, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), Inequality, Disadvantage and Discrimination

See extended abstract.

  Presented in Session 38. Gender, Health, Environment and Climate Change