More Women Lighting Up in India

Traditionally, it was looked upon badly in patriarchal Indian society for women to smoke, however it has now become a part of everyday life and smoking is no longer a male bastion.

More and more women are lighting up these days and studies reveal that it all begins at an early age, with some 20 percent of girls smoking their first cigarettes when they are only 10 or 12. The trend seems to be limited to India’s big cities.

Many professional women smoke, for instance, those who work in call centres, the IT industry, the media or even the fashion industry. Models say they smoke to maintain their ideal weight.

Excitement of something new

Most young women light up their first cigarette because they want to try out something new, says Sasha Chettri, a young media professional in Delhi.

“I basically started smoking when I was in ninth grade. Initially, it was just a fun thing. I think it is fairly safe to say that now am an addicted and my body needs nicotine,” she says.

Manyata, who did not want to reveal her real identity, is an undergraduate student at Delhi University. She is aware of the harmful effects of tobacco but these do not stop her.

“My skin is gross and my lips are black. I know it causes cancer. But only if you smoke till you are old. I am young -- just 19. I heard that if I stop in my mid-30s, before I become pregnant, it will be OK. I think its OK for me to smoke,” explains Manyata.

“We know that the use of tobacco affects women just like it affects men,” warns Dr Mira Aghi from India’s Advocacy Forum for Tobacco Control. “There are additional problems with women smoking or chewing tobacco because they bear children. Lung cancer occurs in women much earlier than it occurs among men smokers.”

Pushed into smoking by peer pressure

Experts say peer pressure has an important role to play when it comes to young teenagers smoking but other factors such as exam stress, heartbreaks and problems with parents also lead children to start smoking.

“Young women who are studying in colleges these days are attracted to the advertisements because the advertisements are prepared so beautifully and effectively that it creates a very big impact on the young girls and they start smoking,” says Aghi.

Though the government of India has launched a huge anti-tobacco campaign, there is no special emphasis on women smokers.

Anti-tobacco activists have called for more awareness campaigns and even for a total ban on smoking. Whether this would work is questionable: Most people ignore the ban on smoking in public that is already in place.

Author: Debarati Mukherjee
Editor: Thomas Bärthlein