CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2022
| Author | Ambika |
|---|---|
| Title | Come Hail or Heatwave, Work Goes On: Assessing Heat Stress Vulnerability Among Female Construction Workers in Hyderabad, India |
| Summary | The wide-ranging effects of climate change-induced extremities are already being witnessed across the world. One of the consequences this is the effects of the rising temperatures on workers engaged in professions with long outdoor work activity, such as the construction sector. Particularly in countries such as India, the informality of construction sector and the lack of workplace benefits can exacerbate occupation heat stress among workers. Further, women engaged in the construction sector can be more vulnerable to the effects of heat stress due to additional stressors such as domestic responsibilities, childcare, and gender wage gap. Through qualitative methods, this research explores and documents how women working as unskilled labour in the construction sector in Hyderabad, India cope with heatwaves and the factors that make them vulnerable to it. The research also explores the institutional awareness and mitigation responses to the threat that climate change poses to the construction sector in the country. It is found that the coping capacity among female construction workers is limited due to the lack of institutional awareness and mitigation strategies. Further, the informality of construction sector and the absence any adaptation responses to climate change also effect the adaptive capacity. This can have potential long-term implications, as it will weaken the resilience, eventually leading to a negative critical threshold. After documenting the experiences of the women, the researcher suggests recommendations that can build adaptive capacity of the workers and the industry to rising incidents of heatwaves. |
| Supervisor | Pintér, László |
| Department | Environment Sciences and Policy MSc |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2022/sairam_ambika.pdf |
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