Across India, temperatures are soaring, and the impact is evident, from 300 suspected heat-related illness cases reported in Andhra Pradesh to 200 in Maharashtra, say news reports. Heat is unequally felt, with informal workers bearing the brunt of income loss and illness during the blazing hours. Another overlooked impact is heatwaves’ toll on menstrual and reproductive health, where access to washrooms and clean water exacerbates summers for women in low-income settlements, experts say. 

Extreme heat exposure overlaps closely with marginalisation, says Vidhya Venugopal, Professor of Climate Change, Occupational and Environmental Health at Sri Ramachandra Institute of Higher Education and Research in Chennai. For women, increased menstrual cramps, and Urinary Tract Infections (UTIs) are some overlooked symptoms during summer. Pregnant women are at risk for preterm births, low birth weight, and placental stress, notes Professor Vidhya.

“If a Heat Action Plan (HAP) ignores the fundamental biological realities of pregnancy, menstruation, and sanitation, it is only protecting half the population,” the researcher adds. In a previous article, we had examined the impact of heat on the menstrual health of informal workers.

In this interview, the researcher highlights the impacts of heat on reproductive health and what governments can do. 

1. You’ve written about occupational heat in previous studies. How do impacts change across occupations?

The impact of heat is not uniform but shaped by occupation, income insecurity, access to rest and water, housing conditions, and the ability or inability to stop. The body may signal distress, but poverty often does not allow workers to stop. For instance, construction workers face some of the most intense and sustained heat exposure, especially on reflective concrete and metal surfaces. Their core body temperatures can remain elevated even after shifts end. A woman selling greens outside a Chennai market in April is exposed not only to ambient heat, but to radiant heat from road surfaces and surrounding traffic. Her ability to rest, hydrate, or access shade is constrained by the economics of survival.

Intersectional impact

2. How do gender, caste and disability play a role?

Caste plays a major role in determining heat exposure. Dalit workers remain disproportionately concentrated in some of the most heat-intensive occupations: sanitation work, waste collection, construction, and manual scavenging. This is not accidental but reflects long-standing occupational segregation shaped by caste. Government-linked and independent reports have shown that between 77% and 97% of identified manual scavengers in India belong to Dalit communities. Recent findings under the NAMASTE scheme also reported that more than 90% of sanitation workers employed in hazardous work come from SC, ST, or OBC communities.

In Chennai and many other cities, the geography of extreme heat exposure often overlaps closely with the geography of social marginalisation. Disability remains almost entirely absent from heat policy discussions. Workers with mobility limitations may not be able to quickly access shade or cooling spaces.

3. How are women in North Chennai affected as opposed to resettlement sites?

Women’s heat exposure is not determined by temperature alone, but is shaped by housing quality, water access, transport, occupation, caregiving responsibilities, and how much control she has over her surroundings (which remains limited in most cases).

North Chennai’s industrial corridor has high concrete density, low tree cover, and strong urban heat island effects, making temperatures significantly harsher than greener parts of the city. A woman working in a small garment unit in areas like Tondiarpet or Tiruvottiyur here faces a combination of industrial heat, poor ventilation, physical exertion, chemical exposure, and often inadequate access to clean drinking water or toilets. Many commute by foot or shared transport, which adds another layer of heat exposure. 

With families moved far from the city centre, it means longer and hotter commutes for work. The housing itself often traps heat intensely: small concrete units, thin walls, overcrowding, and poor cross-ventilation make indoor temperatures unbearable, especially at night. Water shortages reduce people’s ability to cope with heat. In many cases, social support systems also weaken after relocation, leaving women more isolated during extreme heat events.

Read More: Living with climate anxiety: How rising heat, floods are reshaping daily life in Chennai

4. A recent study highlighted indoor and night time heat retention in Indian homes. How does this compound the problem for women? 

Normally, your body relies on cooler night temperatures to bounce back from daytime heat exposure. But if a worker leaves a brutal shift and comes home to a house that is still a stifling 34 degrees celsius at midnight, that recovery never happens. Instead, the heat stress just builds up day after day, increasing the risk of dehydration, kidney strain, and severe heat illness.

Women get hit the hardest here – they spend more hours inside these overheated homes doing cooking and caregiving, often in tight spaces with terrible ventilation. In crowded, low-income households, access to a simple fan or the coolest spot in the room is rarely equal.

Some measures:

• Cool roof solutions 
• In resettlement colonies with zero cross-ventilation, consider window shades, roof insulation, and better building orientation.
• Subsidising electricity.

5. How does heat and humidity disrupt reproductive health?

Clear global medical evidence shows prolonged exposure to extreme heat increases the risk of preterm births, low birth weight, and placental stress. In the informal sector, taking maternity leave isn’t an option for most women. Economic necessity means many have to continue doing physically demanding work in blazing temperatures until they give birth.  In a coastal city like Chennai, humidity makes everything worse. Constant sweating and moisture create the perfect environment for skin and vulvovaginal fungal infections. Managing a period in these conditions is difficult. Extended use of sanitary products in high humidity causes severe discomfort and skin irritation.

If you are an informal worker, you rarely have access to a clean, private restroom or running water during your shift to change or wash up. This leads directly to another major issue: behavioral dehydration. Because public toilets are either non-existent, unsafe, or unclean, many women intentionally stop drinking water during their shifts. 

On-ground changes 

6. HAPs ignore work conditions, and gender-specific risks. What is missing?

The problem with HAPs in India is that they use a “medical emergency” model—counting heat stroke deaths and telling people to stay indoors. For an informal worker, that framework is practically useless. Current policies ignore the livelihood trap: telling a daily wage worker to stay home between 12 PM and 3 PM is telling them to go without food. 

Gender-specific risks are entirely absent. Plans ignore reproductive health guidelines for pregnant workers and fail to mandate clean, private toilets. This forces many women to intentionally stop drinking water to avoid public spaces, leading to severe health issues like UTIs. These plans focus on afternoon peaks, missing the crisis of night heat. There is a blindness to caste and geography, with zero targeted interventions for heavily exposed groups like Dalit neighbourhoods or construction camps. 

7. How can governments factor in reproductive health?

Local governments must shift HAPs away from disaster management and toward basic gender-inclusive public health. This means upgrading public cooling centres to include clean, private toilets with running water and sanitary products, ensuring women don’t unsafely restrict their water intake to avoid public spaces. 

ASHA workers should be trained to screen for heat-induced menstrual irregularities and UTIs, while local clinics must prioritise pregnant informal workers for heat-stress counseling and push for mandated lighter duties during peak hours. Schools must secure reliable water and ventilation to prevent summer absenteeism among menstruating girls. 

Read More: Chennai braces for extreme heat, prepares measures to combat rising temperatures

8. With increasing temperatures, what can cities do?

Local governments must use satellite data to map high-heat hotspots at the ward level, allowing them to install targeted fixes like community water stations, shaded walkways, and cool pavements where they are needed most. 

Also read: