Gender, Mental Health, and Climate Change: Impacts on Women and Gender Minorities

Climate change is known to have profound impacts on global mental health and worsen gender-specific mental health disparities. These impacts must be better understood as the current body of literature and evidence at this nexus is still nascent. This chapter will first review the existing evidence for the biological, cultural, and socioeconomic factors at the intersection of climate-sensitive and gender-and sex-based mental health disparities across the life span. We will subsequently review evidence for climate change adaptation and mitigation measures that can promote and protect the mental health of women and sexual and gender minorities (SGMs). Major gaps in gender analysis and research related to how climate change impacts mental health exist globally, but they are particularly prominent in low-and middle-income countries (LMICs). Even more glaring gaps exist in research investigating climate-sensitive mental health impacts on SGMs. Promoting mental health and neurodevelopment in women and girls, particularly during perinatal periods as well as childhood and adolescence, are linked to far-reaching social, economic, health, and policy outcomes for communities globally.