Rising Temperatures Linked to Higher Risk of Violence Against Women in Africa

As global temperatures climb, scientists are increasingly documenting how a warming climate does not simply reshape ecosystems and economies, but also the intimate and often invisible dynamics of human relationships. A new study led by researchers at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) adds a striking dimension to this growing body of evidence. Drawing on survey data from 31 countries across sub-Saharan Africa, the study finds that unusually warm periods are associated with an increased risk of intimate partner violence against women, particularly emotional and physical violence. The research, published in the journal Global Environmental Change, is among the most comprehensive efforts to date to quantify the relationship between heat and gender-based violence, and it arrives with an unsettling projection: even under optimistic scenarios of social and economic progress, the absolute number of women affected is expected to rise by mid-century.

The analysis rests on an unusually rich empirical foundation. The research team, which included scientists from institutions in Austria, New Zealand, and South Africa, compiled data from 61 Demographic and Health Surveys conducted between 2003 and 2024. These surveys, widely regarded as the gold standard for population health research in low- and middle-income countries, captured self-reported experiences of violence among women aged 15 to 49. By linking these individual-level records with climate data, the researchers were able to examine whether women living through unusually warm conditions reported higher rates of violence than those experiencing more typical temperatures. The statistical approach allowed the team to probe not only the overall association but also how it varied across demographic groups, a question that proved central to interpreting the findings.

The headline result is that unusually warm conditions increase the risk of intimate partner violence, with the effect concentrated in emotional and physical violence. Notably, the researchers found no clear evidence of a similar effect on sexual violence, a distinction that may reflect differences in the underlying mechanisms driving each form of abuse. Lead author Jonas Peisker, a researcher in the IIASA Population and Just Societies Program, cautions against reading the result as a simple cause-and-effect relationship. According to Peisker, unusually warm conditions appear to add to existing risks of intimate partner violence, but temperature is only one part of a far more complex picture. In his framing, climate change should be understood as a risk multiplier rather than a primary cause of violence, amplifying stresses that already exist within households and communities rather than generating violence on its own.

This risk-multiplier interpretation aligns with a broader theoretical literature on climate and conflict. Heat can strain livelihoods dependent on agriculture, reduce household incomes, deepen food insecurity, and intensify psychological stress, all of which are established correlates of violence within the home. In regions where many families live close to subsistence thresholds, a single unusually hot season can cascade into economic hardship that reverberates through domestic relationships. The study does not isolate which of these channels is most responsible, but its demographic patterns offer suggestive clues about where vulnerability is concentrated and, by extension, which mechanisms may be at work.

Those patterns are among the most consequential findings of the research. The effects of unusually warm conditions were particularly pronounced among women living in rural areas and among those with a primary level of education or less. Corresponding author Erich Striessnig, jointly associated with IIASA and the University of Vienna’s Department of Demography, notes that women in these groups may have fewer resources and fewer opportunities to leave harmful relationships. At the same time, he is careful to acknowledge the limits of the evidence: the study does not establish why these groups are more affected, only that the association is stronger for them. This restraint matters, because plausible explanations, from constrained mobility to dependence on climate-sensitive agricultural livelihoods, remain hypotheses that future research must test directly.

The study also situates temperature within a wider constellation of social and economic risk factors. Higher education of both partners and greater economic resources were linked to lower risk of intimate partner violence, reinforcing a consistent finding in the development literature that household education and wealth are protective. Frequent alcohol consumption by partners emerged as one of the strongest risk factors identified, echoing decades of research linking alcohol misuse to domestic violence. Perhaps most provocative is the finding that employed women reported higher rates of intimate partner violence than those not employed. The researchers suggest this could be consistent with backlash against women’s growing independence, a phenomenon documented in other contexts in which shifts in gendered economic power provoke coercive responses, although they are explicit that other explanations cannot be ruled out and that the cross-sectional nature of the data precludes firm causal claims.

Looking toward 2050, the team used the empirical relationships to model how the number and share of women affected might evolve under different climate and socioeconomic scenarios. The results reveal a tension between percentage and absolute burden. Under scenarios featuring stronger development and expanding education, the share of women affected is projected to decline, suggesting that social progress can genuinely reduce vulnerability. Under a scenario with slower development and stalled educational progress, the share remains relatively stable. Yet across all scenarios, the absolute number of women affected increases, driven largely by population growth. This divergence between relative and absolute measures carries a stark policy implication: even successful development trajectories will leave a growing population of women exposed to compounded climate and violence risks unless targeted protections expand alongside them.

Coauthor Roman Hoffmann, who leads the Migration and Sustainable Development Research Group at IIASA, emphasizes that the future is not shaped by warming alone. In his assessment, investments in education, inclusive development, and women’s empowerment can help reduce vulnerability, but even where the share of affected women falls, population growth means that more women may still require protection and support. The authors argue that these findings make a direct case for integrating violence prevention into climate adaptation planning, a domain in which gender-based violence has historically been treated as peripheral. They point to concrete measures with evidence behind them: investments in girls’ and women’s education, delaying early marriage, and expanding economic opportunities for women in the region.

The recommendations extend beyond women-focused interventions. The researchers also call for engaging men and boys, challenging harmful notions of male dominance, and promoting shared decision-making and non-violent conflict resolution within households. This framing reflects a growing consensus in the violence-prevention field that durable change requires shifting social norms rather than only building individual resilience. For policymakers working on climate adaptation, and for organizations and agencies working to prevent violence against women, the study suggests these agendas are not parallel tracks but intertwined ones, with each reinforcing the other’s effectiveness.

The authors are careful to frame their scenarios as illustrations of possible futures rather than predictions. Intimate partner violence, they stress, has multiple interconnected drivers, and temperature should not be interpreted as its primary cause. What the research demonstrates is how climate pressures can interact with existing social and economic vulnerabilities, and how development choices made over the coming decades can influence the scale of the future burden. In a century defined by warming, the study’s central message is sobering but actionable: the climate crisis and the crisis of violence against women are not separate problems, and the choices societies make about education, equity, and empowerment will determine how deeply their effects compound.

Subject of Research: The association between unusually warm climate conditions and intimate partner violence against women in sub-Saharan Africa

Article Title: Can a warming climate put women at greater risk?

Article References: Can a warming climate put women at greater risk?. (n.d.). Original publication

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: Not provided

Keywords: climate change, intimate partner violence, sub-Saharan Africa, women's health, risk multiplier, Demographic and Health Surveys, education, gender inequality, climate adaptation, socioeconomic scenarios, IIASA, Global Environmental Change