The New Straits Times, October 8, 2000
By Prof Dzulkifli Abdul Razak
THE Second Meeting of the Regional Steering Committee on Economic Advancement of Rural and Island Women in the Asia Pacific (RSC-AP) ended last week in Kuala Lumpur.
The three-day meeting, attended by 90 delegates including First Ladies of the region and chaired by Datuk Seri Dr Siti Hasmah Mohd Ali, discussed poverty and empowerment in turbulent times.
Dr Siti Hasmah in a paper entitled “Impact of War on Women and Children”, urged national and international institutions to include women in all stages of mediation and negotiations, specifically war-related decisions (NST, Sept 28). In times of war both groups suffer the most.
In a similar vein, women are being explcited in the tobacco war. Even though the devastating effects of tobacco on women’s health have not been dealt with fully, the industry is already zooming in on this segment of the population. It is a potentially lucrative market, as the percentage of women who smoke in Asia is still small.
Despite claims to the contrary, industry documents and several studies show that women are in fact being targeted. The upward trend in tobacco use among women is, therefore, not surprising.
In the US, the number of women who begin smoking during high school and college has risen steadily, but not so with men. A similar trend is seen in the Pacific and some Asian countries such as Japan and the Philippines.
In many Asian countries smoking by women has been traditionally frowned upon. But today’s young women are “taught” to view smoking differently. It is being promoted as a sign of sophistication, emancipation and “coolness”.
While some countries have banned a significant proportion of the most pernicious types of advertising, tobacco companies have been able to circumvent the law. In many countries, including Malaysia, tobacco has been promoted indirectly, for example in product placement, point-of-sale promotion, corporate sponsorship, and pricing policies. Women models and celebrities are frequently highlighted to encourage women to start smoking.
In efforts to induce smoking among women, the tobacco industry resorts to false imageries, infusing the media with pictures of liberation, slimness and modernity. Research shows that young women smokers use the most widely advertised cigarettes in order to be “fashionable or trendy”.
A recent gathering of magazine models, media celebrities and health and fitness professionals, reportedly saw a number of “healthy” young women lighting up after dinner. They harboured the mistaken belief that it is a way to keep their weight under control. In fact, smoking is a lousy method of controlling body weight due to the risks involved.
Consequently, many more lives will be lost to various forms of cancers and cardiovascular ailments, particularly lung cancer, heart disease, stroke and emphysema.
Statistics in the US show that smoking increases the risk of heart attack by 300 per cent, even among women who have not reached menopause. Also, the incidence of lung cancer has increased by more than 400 per cent among women in the past 30 years, and is now the biggest cancer killer of women.
Female smokers suffer from bronchitis and emphysema three times as often as female non-smokers, and smoking kills more women than alcohol, illicit drugs, car accidents, suicides and homicides combined.
In addition, women experience gender-specific risks from tobacco use such as a negative impact on reproductive health and complications during pregnancy. Babies of mothers who smoke during pregnancy are on average 200gm lighter than those born to comparable non-smoking mothers.
Women, too, are often exposed to passive smoking. They are forced to breathe in “second-hand” smoke produced by husbands, fathers, colleagues and strangers. In other words, they often become involuntary smokers, and studies have shown that passive smoking increases the risk of lung cancer by 10 to 30 per cent.
It was reported in Cairo recently a fatwa had been issued, that having a spouse who smokes is legitimate grounds for divorce.
The ruling was given by Egypt’s mufti Farid Naser Wasel at the request of an anti-smoking group (NST, Poison Control, March 26). This fatwa is evidence enough of the serious threat to health.
The urgency of the situation is heightened by the fact that women-folk in rural areas too are beginning to be deceived by the tobacco industry. In Malaysia, the growing of tobacco is extensively carried out, especially on the east coast of the peninsula. Most of the growers are from the low-income group.
Most smokers belong to the lowest socioeconomic group, where the level of education is correspondingly low as well. They, too, are the least able to cope with the economic wastage due to tobacco use and its health consequences.
As more women join the workforce, and their disposable income grows, smoking habits and the negative consequences may well increase, too. Already in the Asia-Pacific, 32 to 46 per cent of the labour force is made up of women (NST, Oct 3), exposing them to new values, including false ones promoted by the tobacco industry.
As the theme of the RSC-AP meeting indicates, “empowerment” is an important way out. First Ladies, international and national women leaders, including ministers must lead in campaigning for tobacco control.
This can be best done by urging their governments to support the World Health Organisation’s public hearing on the proposed Framework Convention on Tobacco Control in Geneva, on Oct 12 and 13.
Recommended FCTC website: http://www.who.int/geneva-hearings/
