Women, Ageing and Heat (and Climate Vulnerability)

We tend to talk about heat, the kind that still lingers at the end of September as I write this, as though it were a neutral meteorological phenomenon, little more than a seasonal inconvenience. Temperatures rise, so we are advised to drink water, close the blinds, avoid going out during the hottest hours of the day (as if that were always a choice). But heatwaves, like those we have experienced this year, longer-lasting and more frequent than before, are not merely episodes of extreme temperature. They are also, in a way, a test of our social system because, as with all crises, they do not affect everyone equally.

Heat falls upon different bodies, different circumstances, different homes, different neighbourhoods, different occupations, different caring responsibilities (sometimes non-existent, sometimes overwhelming), and different support networks. That is why, when we talk about climate vulnerability, we need to look beyond the thermometer. We need to pay attention to living conditions, to age... Heat does not affect teenagers and older adults in the same way, nor does it affect men and women in the same way.

Age and sex are important dimensions of social vulnerability to climate change, but they never operate in isolation. They intersect not only with each other but also with income, health status, disability, employment conditions, housing quality, household composition, and support networks. Gender inequalities can translate into unequal access to economic resources, information, social protection, mobility, available time, and the capacity to respond to extreme events. In other words, they shape both exposure to risk and the real ability to protect oneself from it.

This is particularly important in the case of older women. Not because all older women are vulnerable by definition, nor because old age should automatically be equated with frailty, but because inequalities accumulated throughout life also accompany people into old age. Vulnerability to heat does not suddenly appear at the age of eighty, although physiological factors may intensify it at that stage.

More often than not, it is the result of more precarious employment histories, lower pensions, fewer accumulated assets, poorer-quality housing, or weakened support networks. Among other reasons, women are frequently the ones who provide support to others, but they do not always receive the same support when it is their turn to need it.

Climate change does not create these inequalities, but it does intensify them, amplifying risks that already existed. A heatwave does not affect someone living in a well-insulated home with air conditioning, adequate income, and nearby companionship in the same way as someone living alone on a low pension, in a poorly ventilated flat, without a lift, without urban shade, and afraid to switch on a fan or air conditioner because of the electricity bill.

In the specific case of heatwaves, differences between men and women arise from a combination of physiological, social, and occupational factors. From a physiological perspective, recent research shows that middle-aged and older women may be more vulnerable to extreme heat than men of the same age. They reach critical thermal compensation limits under less extreme temperature and humidity conditions. Women also sweat less, which can make heat more difficult to tolerate. However, surviving extreme heat goes far beyond biology. While the body matters, it always exists within a particular context: in a particular home, with a specific income, supported by a network that is not the same for everyone. Physiology may increase susceptibility to heat, but inequality largely determines who can protect themselves and who cannot.

This does not mean that working-age men in heat-exposed occupations are not vulnerable. Some studies suggest that, in Europe during the summer of 2022, heat-related mortality rates were higher among men under 65 and among those aged 65 to 79, whereas from the age of 80 onwards the risk was greater among women. This is an important finding because it reminds us to avoid simplistic interpretations and to ask: at what ages, under what conditions, with what level of exposure, and with what resources? Gender and age matter, but always in context. What truly matters is the interaction between these two dimensions.

Among older women, that interaction is especially visible. On the one hand, women tend to live longer than men and are therefore overrepresented in the oldest age groups. Yet their greater risk during extreme heat cannot be explained by longevity alone. It must also be understood through the lens of the social conditions accumulated across the life course.

One such condition is the greater likelihood of living alone. We know that living alone does not necessarily mean being lonely or lacking support, but during a heatwave it may reduce the immediate availability of assistance. It may mean that nobody notices dehydration, heatstroke, sudden confusion, a fall, or the worsening of a pre-existing illness. It may mean that asking for help depends entirely on one's own ability to recognise risk and act upon it. And many of us are not particularly well prepared to recognise our own vulnerability to heat, especially when combined with the familiar tendency, often more common among women, to minimise discomfort: "I didn't want to bother anyone over a minor ailment." This tendency to downplay distress rarely appears in risk assessments, but I believe it is one of the factors that places us most at risk.

Support networks are therefore fundamental. Not only family networks, but also neighbourhood, community, and public service networks. A phone call, a visit, or an alert from primary healthcare services, social services, or a community organisation can make all the difference. Yet these networks do not always exist, nor are they always able to reach the people who need them most.

Another key dimension is economic vulnerability. Many older women have experienced working lives marked by lower wages, informal employment, or interruptions linked to caregiving responsibilities. The consequences extend into later life: smaller pensions, fewer savings, less capacity to adapt housing, and greater difficulty covering energy costs. During the summer, this can mean not turning on the air conditioning, restricting the use of fans, being unable to improve thermal insulation, or remaining in homes that retain heat for days.

In Spain specifically, people living in poverty face up to four times greater risk of suffering the impacts of heat, while vulnerability also increases among those with poorer working conditions or those living in substandard housing. This fact is important because it shifts the focus away from simple exposure to heat and towards the real capacity to protect oneself. Not everyone can adapt their home, change their routines, reduce exposure, or afford the energy costs required to maintain a safe indoor temperature.

In this sense, the home functions either as infrastructure of protection or infrastructure of exposure. For many older adults, it is also the place where they spend most of their time. If that home cannot protect them, the risk increases. Keeping the house cool is not always possible.

And regarding the recommendation to avoid going out during the hottest hours of the day, we should remember that women continue to shoulder much of the responsibility for care and, I would argue, for keeping society itself functioning. That burden does not disappear with age. Many continue to care for dependent partners, grandchildren, sick relatives, or other older adults. During a heatwave they still need to travel, cook, accompany others, shop for essentials, and ensure that medications are available. Heat affects those who receive care, but also those who provide it.

This is a particularly important issue because prevention policies often imagine older people solely as care recipients, when they may also be caregivers. Many older women occupy both positions simultaneously: they face risks of their own while also caring for others. Ignoring this dual role may undermine the effectiveness of prevention measures.

Isolation, both physical and social, also matters. Growing older in a neighbourhood with local shops, accessible healthcare centres, public transport, benches, shade, fountains, and community life is very different from ageing in an environment where every errand requires a long journey, where there are no nearby cool spaces, or where the street becomes practically uninhabitable during the summer. Adapting to heat cannot depend solely on the home. It also depends on the neighbourhood. Urban policies save lives, or fail to.

For all these reasons, responding to extreme heat requires a much broader perspective. Vulnerability is not distributed evenly among "older people", "women", or "poor households". Rather, it emerges at the intersection of multiple social positions. An 83-year-old woman living alone, with a low pension, in a poorly insulated home and with reduced mobility does not face the same risks as a healthy 70-year-old woman with climate-controlled housing and a close family support network. Age, social class, health, disability, origin, territory, and housing conditions profoundly shape the experience of heat.

We also need to stop thinking of heat as an exceptional problem. Heatwaves will become more frequent, more intense, and longer-lasting. This means that protection from extreme heat cannot remain an improvised emergency response activated whenever temperatures soar. It must become a structural component of ageing, housing, public health, care, and climate adaptation policies.

Finally, extreme heat compels us to look at ageing in a different way. Not as a homogeneous stage of frailty, but as a period of life in which accumulated inequalities become visible. In analysing those inequalities, gender helps us understand how resources, care responsibilities, housing conditions, and the real capacity for self-protection are distributed.