This document discusses gender differences in tobacco use patterns and how the tobacco industry markets differently to women and men. It notes that while smoking rates have peaked in men, they are still rising in women. The tobacco industry uses gender stereotypes and images of independence and beauty in advertisements targeted towards women in magazines. Protecting both women and men from gendered tobacco marketing and ensuring gender-sensitive tobacco control policies are important aspects of reducing tobacco use worldwide.

1. Gender and Tobacco
with an emphasis on marketing
to women
Dr. Nilar Tin
Director (Planning)

2. “GENDER” refers to the social identity of female and
male human beings.
OR
“GENDER” used to describe the various characteristics
assigned to women and men by a given society
It defines the boundaries of what women and men can
and should be and do.
It shapes and determines the behaviour, roles,

3. “SEX” and “GENDER”
are not the same!
SEX
 Biological
 Constant across time
and location
 Universal
GENDER
Social
 Varies across time and
location
 Contextual


4. Socialisation starts from birth
People are born male and female
 Learn to become boys & girls
 Grow into men and women in
a socio cultural context
 Gender-the socially defined roles
and responsibilities assigned to
men and women in a given culture,
location, society and time
 Training for adult roles imparted
through play and education


5. Gender and Tobacco use patterns
Stereotypical expectations used as justification for limited
life choices-masculine images of strength, freedom and
ruggedness
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 Social implication of asking boys to light up cigarette

Approximately 24% of smokers start by age 10 (WHO)

6. Gender and Tobacco use patterns
Gendered stereotypes reinforced by moral precepts
 Stereotypical expectations used as justification for limited
life choices-women are expected as housewives/caregivers
FROM
TO

People of higher SE status usually begins smoking:
Shows independence, glamour, stylish …….

7. Gender and Tobacco use patterns

What about girls and women of lower SE status?????
• Peer approval positively correlates
with smoking in girls more than in boys
• rebelliousness &
• sociability makes girls to smoke
• Housewives and children have been exposed
to secondhand smoke because of smoking
husband and father
• Of all deaths attributed to secondhand smoke,
64% occur among women (lung cancer, heart
disease and other health problems)

8. Gender and Tobacco use patterns

What about girls and women of lower SE status?????
• Women and girls tend to smoke as a “buffer”
against negative feeling
• Young urban Vietnamese women said they
might start smoking if they become very unhappy
Low income mothers in western countries
used smoking as a “time out” from the
demands of caring for young children
Types of tobacco used by women varies, in some country cigarettes and in some
smokeless tobacco is used very heavily

9. The impact of smoking on health
Like men, women who smoke can suffer from many
tobacco-related health problems such as
• lung cancer
• cancer of the mouth, throat, larynx, esophagus, stomach,
pancreas, bladder, kidney
• heart disease
• chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases
• Stroke
• infertility and many other illnesses
• In addition, women smokers face a significantly higher risk
of developing smoking-related illnesses such as lung cancer
and myocardial infarction than men.

10. The impact of smoking on health
Additional hazards of women smokers (because of sex)
• menstruation (irregular cycles, higher incidence of
dysmenorrhoea, etc.)
• abnormal pregnancy (spontaneous abortion, premature
labor, lower birth weight, infertility)
• female-specific cancers (cervix, breast cancers)
• lower bone density (among post menopausal women)
• Women who use oral tobacco products are also at risk of
getting cancers of the gum and buccal mucosa, etc.
• Smoking among women who are caregivers also causes a
wide variety of adverse health effects in their children, such
as lower respiratory tract infections, asthma, middle ear
infections, etc.

11. Facts about gender & tobacco
• There are currently 1.3 billion adult smokers (>15 years old) in the
world, out of a population of 6 billion people
• This figure expected to rise to 1.7 billion between 2020-2025
(Guindon & Boisclair, 2003)
• Globally, about 80% of the world’s smokers live in low-income
and middle income countries
(Mathers & Loncar, 2006)
• Approximately 250 million women and 1 billion men are daily smokers
(WHO, 2002)
• While male rates have peaked and are in slow decline, female rates
are still rising.
• The prediction is that, while 12% of the female population currently
smoke, this will rise to 20% by 2025
(Samet & Yoon, 2001)

12. Rate of Tobacco use among women vary
considerably around the world
• Women comprises 20% of the world’s more than 1 billion smokers
• On an average 22% of women in developed countries and 9% of women in
developing nations are daily smokers
• Data from 151 countries show that about 7% of adolescent girls smoke
cigarettes as opposed to 12% of adolescent boys
• In Russia 24% of girls (age13-15% of boy) and 27% of boys smoke cigarettes
• In Argentina, 27% of girls and 21% of boys smoke cigarettes
• In the United Kingdom 23% of women and 25% of men smoke
• In the Philippines 9% of women and 48% of men smoke
• In Vietnam 4% of women and 70% of men smoke
• In Lebanon 35% of women and 46% of men smoke
• In Myanmar 33.3% of men and 15% of women smoke (Current smoker)
• In Myanmar 31.8% of men and 12.1% of women smoke (Current smokeless)

13. Tobacco Advertisements make people to smoke
• 1913- R.J Reynolds company started launching “Camel” brand as the very
first cigarette
• 1964- Marlboro Man increases cigarette marketing to 10% increase
• 1972- Marlboro becomes best selling cigarette
• 1920- started to target women and girls in marketing

14. Exploiting Gender Differences to promote Tobacco
Tobacco Industry
• industry uses positive life style images (health, nature, beauty) to promote the social
acceptability of cigarettes
Gender issue
• girls and women are more likely to fear weight gain than boys, and to initiate and
continue smoking for weight control
Advertisement for Virginia Slims
Uno cigarettes by JTI (Russia)
Virginia Slims Noire cigarettes
by JTI (Japan)

15. Tobacco advertisement and gender
Tobacco Industry
• In 2007 RJ Reynolds launched a new cigarette for women Camel 9
• targets girls and women with aggressive and seductive advertising that
exploits ideas of independence, sex appeal, slimness, glamour and beauty
Gender issue
• Tobacco use among women is rising as a result of
changes in the role and economic status of women
as economy grows
• as well as changes in social and cultural factors
as nations modernize
• advertizes in fashion magazines like Vogue with
large youth readership

16. Tobacco advertisement towards girls & women
Tobacco Industry
In 2009 Pall Mall Scarlet Aromatic Cigarette in attractive bright
cherry and silver color packing was launched in Russia
Gender issue
•designed to appeal young girls (like bright
color and aroma)
• maximum retail price of 1 USD (an affordable
price for young girls)

17. Tobacco advertisement towards girls and women
Tobacco Industry
•In 2010, Imperial Tobacco redesigned Davidoff cigarettes
• With sleek red, white and silver packing and create
“the ultimate fashion accessory”
Gender issue
Girls and women like fashionable things
Davidoff cigarettes by Imperial Tobacco

18. Then what to do??????
• Although WNTD 2010 will focus on women it has to take
into account the need to protect boys and men from the
tobacco companies' tactics also.
• It is therefore important that tobacco control policies
recognize and take into account gender norms and
differences and responses to tobacco in order to …reduce
tobacco use and improve the health of men and women
worldwide
• Awareness and advocacy on gender and tobacco
• Community and school based discussion of the health
impacts of gender expectations for both males and females

19. • In another 2007 report, Sifting the evidence: gender and
tobacco control, WHO commented,
Both men and women need
• full information about the sex-specific effects of tobacco
use…
• equal protection from gendered advertising and
marketing and
• the development of sex-specific tobacco products by
transnational tobacco companies
• gender-sensitive information about, and protection
from, second-hand smoke and occupational exposure to
tobacco or nicotine

22. The WHO Framework Convention recognizes
• "the need for gender-specific tobacco control strategies“
• "full participation of women at all levels of [tobacco
control] policy-making and implementation [of tobacco
control measures]"
On World No Tobacco Day 2010, and throughout the
following year, WHO will encourage
• governments to pay particular attention to protecting
women from the tobacco companies' attempts to lure
them into lifetimes of nicotine dependence.

23. • Tobacco use could kill one billion people during this
century.
• Recognizing the importance of reducing tobacco use
among women, and acting upon that recognition, would
save many lives.