Greater losses from heat exposure experienced by female smallholders in sub-Saharan Africa

Intensifying heat anomalies place women at disproportionate risks from crop damage and food insecurity but such observed temperature–yield dynamics are difficult to quantify. Evidence remains insufficient on how gendered agricultural sensitivities are affected by normative barriers and resource allocations across plots, households and communities. Here we estimate yield responses of 60,558 agricultural plots in sub-Saharan Africa to within- and cross-country temperature variation. We find that female smallholders are subject to heat impacts 2–2.5 times those of male smallholders, with further evidence of intrahousehold heterogeneity and divergent adaptive strategies in labour adjustments and compensatory investments. Exploiting yearly weather fluctuations, each additional degree-day of extreme heat exposure causes 1.4–2.4% greater declines in both yield and total factor productivity for female plot managers, escalating to 4.4–5.0% differentials in yield losses under an additional day of high temperature. We show the role of women-targeted knowledge transfers and the reconfiguration of land inequality to reshape heat injustice. End-of-the-century warming projections indicate 7.5–19.4% higher damages on female-controlled plots, with missing yields that would meet minimum food needs of 11–15 million people each year. These findings unveil structural injustices under negative environmental shocks, calling for gender-responsive metrics in climate change adaptation frameworks.