‘We feel like the peasants’: women and low-income families bear brunt of heatwave

As temperatures soar across Europe, cities are struggling to adapt, further exacerbating socioeconomic divisions The heatwave afflicting western Europe is the worst ever, with the combination of heat and humidity fuelled by the climate crisis making scores of cities feel unliveable. While for some the adverse impacts amount to disturbed sleep and sticky days in the home office, low-income families are often worse affected by cities’ lack of adequate adaptation measures, with women at the sharp end. “[It] throws a grenade into every vulnerability you already have,” says Asad Rehman, chief executive of Friends of the Earth, pointing out that vulnerable or marginalised groups often bear the brunt of climate crisis-based hardship globally. In built-up cities, the socioeconomic aspect of this disparity can be most acute: studies have found that trees can halve the urban heat island effect but green spaces are not distributed equally, meaning poorer communities in densely packed flats and houses tend to suffer most. Rehman cites a study that found tree shade reduced maximum surface temperatures by 19C, while grass reduced them by 24C. For Emily Dickinson, 36, her partner, Danny Swa