Women in rural Bangladesh bear rising cost of climate crisis

Low-lying Bangladesh is extremely vulnerable to the impacts of rising global temperatures [File: Mahmud Hossain Opu/AP]

Rural families in Bangladesh are using the bulk of their money to protect themselves and their homes from climate change, especially households headed by women who are allocating up to 30 percent of their spending for that purpose, researchers say.

The high share of spending by female-led households – many based in the flood-prone north – is double the average of 15 percent because women have lower incomes than men, said a study by the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) published on Wednesday.