In Thailand, extreme heat is reshaping the lives of the eleven million women working in the informal sector. In 2024, HERA launched the Women’s Climate Shock Insurance and Livelihoods Initiative (WCSI) in Thailand, bringing its innovative model, which deploys a diverse mix of financial and non-financial solutions grounded in local realities to address the physical, mental, and financial toll of rising temperatures on women living and working in eight provinces around the country.
Weathering Change: How Extreme Heat is Reshaping Women’s Lives in Thailand takes an in-depth look at the cornerstone stage of the program: listening and learning sessions with women on the frontlines of extreme heat to understand how it shapes their daily lives. Across trades and regions, HERA’s workshops with local partners and Thai women informal workers revealed a consistent narrative—extreme heat is a crisis, simultaneously impacting their health, income, and dignity.
Through this work, HERA builds trust and ensures that solutions are co-developed and grounded in the lived realities of women as temperatures spike.
Key findings:
- Heat can cut women’s earnings by 50 percent.
- Severe health effects the women experience due to extreme heat include dehydration, heatstroke, worsening mental health, and, in some cases, miscarriage.
- 70 percent of participants reported a deeper understanding of extreme heat after HERA workshops.
- Women are calling for solutions that match the scale of the crisis.
Read on to explore the experiences of women navigating extreme heat in Thailand’s informal workforce, the findings from HERA’s work with them, and what solutions grounded in lived reality can look like.