About this episode

The episode explores the intersection of extreme weather, climate change, and gender-based violence, focusing on women's safety during climate disasters.

Join hosts Sarah Perkins-Kirkpatrick and Iain Strachan as they welcome Professor Sara Davies; professor of international relations at Griffith University and deputy director of the ARC Centre of Excellence for the Elimination of Violence Against Women (CEVAW). In this episode, the two Sara(h)s explore one of climate science's most confronting intersections: what happens to women's safety when extreme weather strikes. From floods, to heatwaves, to compounding crises, the panel covers how climate change triggers and amplifies gender-based violence. Drawing on research across Southeast Asia and the Pacific, Sara reveals that women in those regions weren't shocked by COVID-19's cascading crises: they'd been managing climate, financial and health emergencies simultaneously for years. The episode also unpacks CEVAW's Women's Safety Index (tracking equity, protection and resource indicators across 190 countries), and what it reveals about why some societies recover from shocks faster than others. Who actually carries the practical burden of community recovery after Australian disasters? Why do Indigenous women face rates of violence that constitute a national emergency in their own…

People in this episode

Hosts: Sarah Perkins-Kirkpatrick, Iain Strachan

Guest: Professor Sara Davies

Topics covered

• extreme weather
• climate change
• gender-based violence
• community recovery
• women's safety
• disaster preparedness

Keywords

• climate disasters
• gender violence
• women's safety index
• community recovery
• Indigenous women
• disaster preparedness
• Southeast Asia
• Pacific

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Griffith University, ARC Centre of Excellence for the Elimination of Violence Against Women (CEVAW)

Places: Southeast Asia, Pacific, Australia, Papua New Guinea

More episodes of Totally Cooked: The Climate & Weather Podcast

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• Cooking up the Climate Stripes, with Ed Hawkins · June 18, 2026 · 56 min

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