The findings published in August 2026 shows that climate shocks are not affecting everyone equally. For women, the crisis combines household care responsibilities with growing pressure to secure food and income as agricultural production, water availability and household livelihoods deteriorate.
The IOM Climate Vulnerability Assessment found that women were consistently identified as the group most affected, regardless of whether the discussions involved men, women or youth.
Participants attributed women’s vulnerability to their responsibility for household care while simultaneously contributing to income generation and food production. This exposes women to both the domestic and economic consequences of climate shocks.
The assessment also found that women were identified as the most affected group in terms of access to food across all nine focus groups.
Female-headed households were repeatedly described as the households that recover most slowly following climate-related shocks.
The pressure comes at a time when food insecurity is already widespread.
Across the 102 assessed locations, 73 per cent reported that the majority of families do not have enough food. In Central River Region-North, the figure has arisen to 100 per cent.
Women’s economic coping mechanisms are also being disrupted. The assessment found that women’s savings and gardening groups can lose members, records or shared infrastructure after climate shocks, weakening structures that provide income and social support.
Meanwhile, communities are increasingly turning to difficult coping strategies.
Among locations that adopted coping or adaptation measures, 47 per cent sent household members elsewhere to seek alternative livelihoods, 46 per cent changed shelter type or building materials, 46 per cent conserved water and 44 per cent worked in exchange for food.
Other households reported spending savings, reducing meal sizes and sending children to work.
The assessment found that 31 per cent of locations that adopted coping mechanisms reported spending savings, while 20 per cent reduced meal sizes. Five per cent reported sending children to work.
The findings suggest that women’s vulnerability is tied not only to climate hazards themselves but also to their position within households and communities.
The problem becomes even more pronounced where households cannot recover after a shock.
Focus group participants described recovery as partial or absent in most groups, with several saying some households never fully recover. Female-headed households were most frequently identified as struggling to recover.
The IOM is therefore calling for climate, livelihood, food-security and recovery programmes to be designed to reach women and female-headed households directly.
The assessment argues that gender-responsive programming is necessary because women carry a disproportionate share of the burden created by climate-related food shortages, care responsibilities and loss of livelihoods.
