Submission of a report on female smoking in France to the United Nations

A report on the situation of female smoking in France, prepared by the National Committee against Smoking (CNCT), Action for Smoking and Health (ASH) Washington and the Alliance against Tobacco (ACT) has just been submitted to the working group responsible for monitoring the implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDEF), which France has ratified. The working group will meet from February 28 to March 4, 2022 in Geneva. The report was produced with the support of the Fund to Fight Addictions.

The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) is the body of independent experts that monitors the implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. Every 4 years, parties must submit a status report on the effective implementation in their country of the provisions contained in this treaty. With France's next hearing taking place in September, a pre-session working group of this Committee, with the support of its secretariat, is drawing up lists of problems and questions that it may raise at a later stage during the review session. On this occasion, civil society, such as the CNCT, ASH and ACT, can provide contributions that can influence the Committee's requests to the French government.

The weight of smoking among French women

Female smoking in France is one of the highest in the world. Since 2016, the prevalence of smoking in France has decreased, but 20.7 % of women in France still smoke daily and nearly 6% of them are occasional users[1]. While the prevalence of smokers has decreased sharply among men from 41.5 % to 34.4 % between 1980 and 2012, it has conversely increased sharply from 18.8 % to 27.7 % among women.[2]. In addition, the percentage of female deaths attributable to tobacco was nine times higher in 2010 than in 1980. Since 2000, the number of tobacco-related deaths among female smokers under 65 has more than doubled.

Other health consequences of smoking on women, including a dramatic increase in heart attacks, strokes, lung cancer and COPD, are well documented. A recent study shows that lung cancer is progressing very rapidly among women in France, affecting 34% women in 2020 compared to 16% in 2000 and that 41% of these cancers occur in women under 50 years old.[3]In the 50-74 age group, mortality from lung cancer in women in France is currently higher than that from breast cancer.[4]. Globally, women are still the main victims of second-hand smoke and more women die from second-hand smoke.

Including tobacco control in women's rights

According to the report’s authors, a human rights-based approach to ending tobacco use is relevant because it requires governments to protect their citizens by implementing comprehensive and proven regulations and measures to end the tobacco epidemic. Governments have an obligation to protect the health of their citizens, and international and regional treaties and tools such as the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCCLAT), CEDEF, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) or the global action plan to combat non-communicable diseases to which France is committed are the most effective tools for achieving these objectives.

In terms of women's rights, tobacco consumption leads to a more specific violation of certain provisions of these international conventions, in particular the right to health protection, the right to information and the fight against discrimination. Women continue to be prime targets in the tobacco industry's marketing, which directs its campaigns towards women through advertisements and promotions that rely on gender stereotypes and falsely associate tobacco use with the concepts of beauty, thinness, sophistication, or even emancipation and freedom.

France must continue its efforts to protect women's rights

The report recalls that reducing smoking, particularly among women, is an obligation for France due to its international commitments. The associations specify that, although the country has been engaged in an active and proactive policy to combat smoking in recent years, which has helped reduce overall tobacco consumption, many provisions have not yet been adequately implemented. They therefore issue a series of recommendations that should be implemented by the French public authorities in order to protect the rights of women and girls. These include in particular the encouragement to:

- Monitor and improve the effectiveness of certain measures: ban on the sale of tobacco products to minors, protection against exposure to passive smoking, smoking behavioral placements in cultural works, improvement of the provision of care for comprehensive management of tobacco addiction treatments;

- Harmonize existing legislation on taxation, ingredients and packaging to avoid circumvention practices and consumption transfers;

- Pursue a general strategy to combat smoking, including a component focusing on smoking among women.

Read the full report (in French – PDF) Combating the tobacco epidemic to strengthen human rights (CNCT)

©Generation Without Tobacco

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Keywords: France, women's rights, human rights, fight against smoking, health, United Nations [1] Pasquereau A, Andler R, Arwidson P, Guignard R, Nguyen-Thanh V. Tobacco consumption among adults: assessment of five years of the national anti-smoking program, 2014-2019. Bull Epidémiol Hebd. 2020;(14):273-81. http:// beh.santepubliquefrance.fr/beh/2020/14/2020_14_1.html [2] Ng M, Freeman MK, Fleming TD, et al. Smoking prevalence and cigarette consumption in 187 countries, 1980-2012. JAMA. 2014;311(2):183-192. doi:10.1001/jama.2013.284692 [3] Tobacco-free generation, Lung cancer on the rise among women in France, January 24, 2022, accessed February 10, 2022 [4] Jéhannin-Ligier K, Dantony E, Bossard N, Molinié F, Defossez G, Daubisse-Marliac L, Delafosse P, Remontet L, Uhry Z. Projection of cancer incidence and mortality in metropolitan France in 2017. Technical report. Saint-Maurice: Public Health France, 2017. 80 p. https://www.santepubliquefrance.fr/docs/projection-de-l-incidence-et-de-la-mortalite-parcancer-en-france-metropolitaine-en-2017 National Committee Against Smoking |