Tobacco.org

• SMOKING KILLS. SO WHAT?  

PUNE: Risks are higher. But the addiction is stronger and it's a difficult business to kick the butt. Forget the menfolk, even women today seem to whiff off all these concerns with every puff they take.

According to the WHO's 14th World Conference on Tobacco and Health, 2009, there has been an alarming 18 per cent rise in the number of women smokers in India. Majority of these women fall in the age group of 18 to 24 years.

Are a woman's reasons to take up the cancer-stick' different from the men? If psychologists are to be believed, a cigarette in a woman's hand has begun to symbolise a certain air of success and mystery. They say, smoking, for the fairer sex, is an act of rebellion against social pressures of being feminine, nice and perfect.

Says Himani Chaphekar, a city-based psychologist: "Women are more emotional. Therefore, the possibility of them slipping into depression is more than men. Some women also take to smokes due to loneliness. Personality and socio-economic factors are also reasons to such addictions." . . .

To most women, giving up cigarette means giving up their freedom. And, would they give it up when they have kids? Pat comes the reply from Yamini, "Why should I? Smoking is like breathing. I can't give it up. And, there are so many women smokers who have kids."

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