New Delhi: Around 11:00 am every Sunday morning, the streets surrounding Minto Road in Shahjahanabad, colloquially known as Old Delhi, begin to empty as the heat continues to rise. Even in the harsh sun, women vendors can be seen sitting beside piles of clothes, covering their faces with scarves, wiping sweat with their sarees and searching for whatever little shade they can find. Neeta, a vendor in the market, said Delhi has been getting hotter every year, with the city now feeling far more exhausting than it once did.Neeta lives in Delhi’s Raghuveer Nagar and has been selling second-hand clothes at the women’s market near Minto Road for almost ten years to support her family. Every Sunday, she leaves home between 6 and 7 am, because by 9 am, travelling through the city with multiple bags of clothes becomes intolerable in the heat.Neeta sorts through clothes at her stall on Minto Road in Old Delhi, where many women spend long hours working in the heat.In recent years, conditions have steadily worsened. By noon, many roads and markets across Delhi begin to clear out as temperatures rise close to 40°C.“After 11 am, the heat becomes so severe that it is difficult to even sit on the roadside. The biggest problem while working outside is water. There is no public drinking water nearby, so whenever I feel thirsty, I have to leave my stall unattended and walk long distances to get water,” said Neeta. Like Neeta, many vendors set up stalls at the market, where second-hand clothing and household items are sold. More than 100 stalls are usually set up, with women running many of them.“Sitting outside all day, I get sunburnt, the dust gets into my eyes and I feel constantly dizzy. Many women who work here have fainted due to the heat,” she added.The impact of extreme heat does not end at the workplace for these vendors. After spending the whole day outside, they return home tired, hoping for some relief, but are still expected to cook and manage household work.Delhi’s heat is also not limited to a few hours in the afternoon – it extends late into the night. In the informal sector, working class women’s houses often have tin roofs and are situated within narrow lanes with very little greenery, remaining unbearably hot even after the sun has set.Rama Devi outside her home in Samaypur Badli, where the summer heat persists long after sunset.Rama Devi lives in Delhi’s Samaypur Badli area and has been working as a domestic worker for the last 15 years. Originally from Uttar Pradesh, she moved to Delhi in search of work and settled here with her family. Every morning, after cooking, getting her children ready and finishing household tasks, she leaves for work in different houses across the area. She spends hours travelling and then works in small kitchens where the heat becomes hard to bear.During the afternoon, she and other domestic workers often sit together in nearby parks to have lunch and rest for a while. But now, even the parks feel too hot.“After walking in the sun for work, I often feel faintish. Sometimes my blood pressure drops and I get severe headaches. By the time I come home, my whole body feels exhausted – but cooking and housework still have to be done every day,” she said.She lives with her children in a small tin-roofed house with no air conditioning or cooler but only a single fan. During summers, the roof becomes extremely hot and even at night, there is sweltering heat.A recent study published in Scientific Reports found that heatwaves in India have become more frequent, intense and prolonged over the last 26 years due to global warming. The extent of heatwave hotspots across the country increased nearly 1.5 times between 1981-2000 and 2001-2020. Researchers noted that the number of heatwave days in many parts of India have increased from 2.5-5.5 days per year on average to 3.5-8.5 days per year during this period.Sita sits in her e-rickshaw after spending hours on Delhi’s roads in the summer heat.Sita, who drives an e-rickshaw in Delhi, leaves home around 8:30 every morning after completing household work. Once the afternoon heat becomes unbearable, she returns home for lunch and a short rest before going back out again in the evening to work.“During the summer, driving an e-rickshaw outside for the whole day becomes very difficult. By the time I return home, my whole body feels exhausted. Still, I cannot stop working because stepping out to earn is necessary to run the house,” she said.Delhi’s extreme heat is no longer just a climate change issue; it is directly affecting the livelihoods of women in the unorganised sector. According to a report by Greenpeace India and the Workers’ Collective for Climate Justice South Asia, about 76% of women workers in the city work in the unorganised sector, including domestic workers, street vendors, garbage collectors and gig workers. The report said that for every 1°C increase in temperature, income in the unorganised sector decreases by up to 19%, while during a heatwave, this loss can reach 40%.While most of them start work early to avoid the hottest hours, some workers still have to spend long hours outside without access to clean drinking water, public toilets, shade or places to rest, and subsequently, many drink less water while working, which affects their health.The impact of extreme heat is also visible among women in Delhi’s rapidly growing gig economy. Manisha, who lives in Delhi’s Rohini Sector-1, has worked as a beauty service gig worker with Urban Company for four years. She is currently recovering from appendix surgery. Her work involved moving across different parts of Delhi to provide beauty and salon services in people’s homes and carrying a heavy bag full of products and equipment, something that becomes particularly strenuous in summer.The Samaypur Badli neighbourhood in North Delhi, where many women domestic workers and informal sector workers live.“We now try to avoid long-distance bookings in the afternoon, as moving from one part of Delhi to another while carrying heavy equipment is very difficult. Many times, half our energy is spent just on the journey itself,” she said.Manisha added, “Customers also cancel bookings or change timings. Sometimes we travel all the way to a location in extreme heat, only for the booking to fall through at the last moment. Our time, money and entire day go to waste. Earnings have reduced, but expenses have not. Carrying heavy bags all day has also worsened pain in the back, shoulders and neck.”Constant movement in harsh weather, combined with work pressure, has been causing problems such as cervical pain, dehydration and exhaustion.Vandana, a Gig Workers Association member, said the impact is not just physical but mental as well. “Women working in beauty services, cleaning and app-based home services have to move around the city throughout the day. Continuous travel, traffic and the pressure of punctuality takes a heavy toll,” she said.An emptying Minto Road market in the afternoon heat.According to the World Health Organisation’s “Heat and Health” report, the number of people exposed to extreme heat is growing exponentially due to climate change. It is becoming a serious threat to public health and workers’ safety.The report notes that working in extreme temperatures can lead to heat exhaustion, heatstroke, kidney-related illnesses and mental stress, with outdoor workers, manual labourers and women among those most vulnerable.For women working in Delhi’s unorganised sector, extreme heat now affects almost every aspect of their daily lives – when they leave home, how far they can travel, how long they work, how much they earn and whether their bodies get enough rest. Summer has increasingly become part of their everyday struggle to survive and earn a living.Atul Ashok Howale is a mentee of the Climate Change Media Hub at the Asian College of Journalism. The programme is supported by Interlink Academy, Germany.All photos by Atul Ashok Howale.