On June 6, 2024, Wednesday “Wendy” Johnson, a postal worker in North Carolina, passed away from a possible heat stroke after a particularly hot day working in the back of a postal truck with no air conditioning. For women workers across the nation like Wendy, heat poses a particular threat – and that threat is only growing.
Communities across the nation are seeing longer and more frequent heat waves as well as higher average temperatures. In addition to the risk of death, heat exhaustion, serious injury and heat stroke can also cause lasting health issues, creating the potential for mass disablement. But the risks of heat to people’s health and well-being don’t fall equally on all workers: those most vulnerable to heat include pregnant people, older adults, those who are incarcerated, low income communities, unhoused people and disabled people. It is essential, and increasingly urgent, that our policy approaches to heat recognize the elevated and distinct risks that these groups face.
A 2021 study found that even a single day of work in temperatures between 85 and 90 degrees leads to a 5 to 7 percent increase in same-day injuries, and a work day with temperatures above 100 degrees leads to a 10 to 15 percent increase in workplace injuries. Although men are three times more likely to work in heat exposed jobs, in the paid labor force, there are still many women in heat-impacted occupations, with millions working in agriculture, forestry, fishing, hunting, mining, transportation, warehousing and utilities:
- Women are an increasing share of agricultural workers and the risks of extreme heat compound the safety risks they already confront, from pesticide exposure to gender-based violence. Heat may also disproportionately affect multiply-marginalized women in this field. Hispanic and Latine people are overrepresented in the industry due to deliberate policy choices that have relegated people of color, immigrants, women and other marginalized communities to certain, undervalued occupations; as a result, Latinas might be more likely to be impacted by extreme heat in the workplace than other groups of women. Indigenous women are also more likely than non-Native women to work in agriculture, and even more so on Native land.
- Industries in which women are overrepresented, such as baked-goods manufacturing, laundry services, textile manufacturing and food services, are also affected by rising heat levels due to the machinery necessary to do the job.
- Women are also overrepresented in elementary and secondary school positions, and these schools have become–and continue to become–heat-exposed workplaces. According to a 2020 Government Accountability Office report, as many as 40.9 percent of schools were found to have inadequate HVAC systems in need of updating. Many teachers have been sounding the alarm bell on rising heat for years, going as far as to strike to demand safer environments for themselves and their students.
For workers (such as healthcare workers or laboratory workers) in fields that are already considered dangerous due to exposure to biological specimens or diseases, chemical exposures such as pesticides, or other workplace hazards, rising heat will compromise the usability of PPE that workers need for occupational health and safety, in addition to protection from infection. This is particularly concerning amidst the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the already disproportionate number of disabled women and are at higher risk for further debilitation in comparison to men, and the potential threat of H5N1 or other new infections.
The negative impacts on women’s health are manifold. In general, women are more likely to be disabled, which puts them at higher risk for heat-related complications. Medications such as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) may lead to heat intolerance, and women are prescribed SSRIs more often than men. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and certain types of birth control can also cause sun sensitivity. Women are more likely to experience chronic pain or be prescribed NSAIDs. Heat may also compromise the effectiveness of certain medications, like birth control or EpiPens. The increased exposure to heat can be even worse for pregnant people. Pregnancy affects the body’s ability to regulate temperature, making pregnant people more vulnerable to heat exposure and to serious adverse pregnancy outcomes. The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA) is one critical tool for protecting pregnant workers and ensuring they have accommodations such as longer breaks, permission to sit, the right to carry a water bottle, or adaptive equipment.
When women end their workday, there is little relief from the rising heat levels. Women, who are more likely to live in poverty, are disproportionately exposed to extreme heat in their homes as a result. Lower-income households, renters, Black residents, Hispanic/Latine residents, and some Asian households are less likely to have access to air conditioning across all metro areas. Many of these households are also affected by redlining, and as a result have less trees and greenspace, which would decrease surface temperature, mitigate flooding and filter airborne toxins. Additionally, as of 2023, the Department of Housing and Urban Development estimates 250,000 women and girls are experiencing homelessness, many of whom also work (40-60 percent of unhoused individuals are employed).
The rising heat has a very real impact on women’s lives and livelihoods. Though the PWFA and accompanying EEOC regulations are a start, we need the PWFA and its regulations to stay in place, despite unwarranted legal challenges, to continue to protect pregnant workers from dangerous heat exposure. Additionally, we urgently need action on a national level to protect people everywhere they live and work. On August 30, 2024, the Biden Administration proposed a standard to protect workers from workplace heat – one that workers across the United States are calling for the administration to implement and strengthen immediately. States like California have also implemented heat injury and illness prevention regulations to protect workers. In addition to addressing workplace concerns, the Biden Administration has released a much needed comprehensive plan to tackle extreme heat for all U.S. residents, which mentions agency responsibility in providing air conditioning access through programs like the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), collecting heat-related illness data and emergency preparedness planning. This plan could help support women workers when on and off the clock.
Finally, these solutions will only be bandaids on a larger, festering wound if we fail to make meaningful strides to halt the acceleration of climate change. More must be done to address the root causes of rising heat to protect all women workers. Our current infrastructure cannot handle what is to come unless we radically divest from “business as usual” and invest in renegotiating a new norm that does not leave the most vulnerable behind.
This author would like to thank Marissa Ditkowsky, Tanya Goldman, Sharita Gruberg, Jessica Mason, Erin Mackay, Gail Zuagar, Brittany Williams and Mettabel Law for their contributions.
