Women and the Tobacco Industry

 

Sheet translated and adapted from the document “ Women and the Tobacco Industry » by STOP (Stopping Tobacco organizations & products)

STOP is an international watchdog that tracks tobacco industry interference in public policy. STOP is a partnership between the University of Bath's Tobacco Control Research Group, the Global Centre for Good Governance in Tobacco Control, The Union and Vital Strategies.

March 2021

 

Global tobacco use among women is increasingly complex, involving a variety of factors, including globalization, aggressive tobacco industry marketing, and the changing status of women. In high-income countries, smoking among women is declining, but it is increasingly concentrated among women in low- and middle-income countries. Women smokers face the same health risks as men smokers, but they also face specific additional risks that are often overlooked and overlooked, including reproductive health risks. Tobacco use among women and girls is a major concern in tobacco control, as rising rates of use threaten progress toward gender equality.

 

Gender-specific risks of tobacco products

1. Of the billion smokers in the world, 200 million are women[1].
2. Two million women die each year from smokingOf the 8.71 million annual deaths due to smoking, 2.15 million are women (2019)[2], of which 71% live in low- and middle-income countries[3].
3. In the world, 600,000 women are victims of passive smoking each year. 64% of annual deaths linked to passive smoking are women[4].
4. Smoking poses additional risks to women's reproductive health. In addition to the increased risk of non-communicable diseases (stroke, heart and lung disease, cancer), women may suffer from specific reproductive health problems if they smoke before or during pregnancy:

• increased risk of infertility and delayed conception;
• increased risk of cervical cancer;
• increased risks of preterm birth, stillbirth and newborn death.

5. Smoking increases the likelihood of falling into poverty, which fuels domestic violence, particularly against women[5]. Tobacco-related expenditures crowd out other household expenditures, often devoted to basic needs such as food, education, housing, recreation, etc. When household resources are limited, conflict and gender imbalance in decision-making can arise more easily.
6. Women working in the tobacco sector are disproportionately affected by environmental, health and social impacts[6].

• Women represent nearly 50% of the agricultural workforce in low-income countries[7].
• Women are heavily involved in the tobacco workforce, particularly in the artisanal manufacturing of tobacco products in some countries. In Indonesia, women account for 94% of workers in kretek manufacturing factories.[8]. In India, the manufacture of bidis[9] employs twice as many women as men.

The role of the tobacco industry

Women, prime targets for tobacco industry marketing campaigns

Since the 1960s, the tobacco industry has targeted women with advertising that plays on gender stereotypes and falsely associates tobacco use with concepts of beauty, thinness, sophistication, prestige, emancipation, freedom, glamour and seduction. [10]-[11]These campaigns used the women's liberation movement in America and subsequently around the world to convey a favorable image of their products.

Today, tobacco companies use the same strategies to market their products, including new tobacco and nicotine products, on every available platform, including social media through influential women.

• Japan Tobacco International (JTI) sponsors many tournaments and sports activities. In Japan, JTI owns the women's volleyball team JT Marvelous who plays at the national level and participates in the Volleyball World Cup in Japan[12].
• In 2018, Philip Morris International (PMI) funded the Independent Women's Forum, a US-based women's think tank that promoted PMI's new heated tobacco product.[13].

These actions have devastating consequences for women. While male mortality caused by tobacco has been declining in recent years, that of women, on the other hand, is experiencing continuous growth. In France, lung cancer is soaring among women and will soon be the deadliest female cancer, ahead of breast cancer. Thus, between 2000 and 2014, lung cancer mortality increased by 71% among women aged 55 to 64, while it decreased by 15% among men for the same age group. The incidence of myocardial infarction before the age of 65 increased by 50% among women (16% among men).[14]

Tobacco industry sponsors initiatives aimed at women

Every year, tobacco companies “celebrate” International Women’s Day with a promise of gender equality and equity.[15]. The tobacco industry highlights its actions and activities related to women in order to divert attention from the devastating global impact of smoking on women’s health. Tobacco companies seek to position themselves as advocates for gender equality, in support of women’s development and they present themselves as respectful employers, this mainly in order to better market their products to women while restoring a damaged image. [16].

• PMI and British American Tobacco (BAT) are investing heavily in public relations campaigns highlighting their leadership pay equity efforts and women's empowerment/leadership programs.
• A 2018 report[17] revealed that PMI's public relations campaigns on "women's empowerment" have been deployed in around 30 countries, the majority of which are low- and middle-income countries, where a significant increase in smoking among women has been observed.
• Ceylon Tobacco Company (a subsidiary of BAT) has stated that one of the objectives of its sustainable agricultural development programme in Sri Lanka[18] is to “empower women and recognize their important role in every household.” In 2019, Philip Morris International (PMI) donated to the Jaime V. Ongpin Foundation, a Philippine NGO, more than $1.4 billion as part of a program aimed at "reducing poverty across the country" by "empowering women" and "responding effectively to emergencies."

Meanwhile, these same companies are covering up information about increasing smoking prevalence and deaths among women, particularly in low- and middle-income countries.

Women suffer from poor working conditions on tobacco plantations

• Tobacco companies depend on raw materials that they want at the lowest possible price. This contributes to and perpetuates the poor working conditions on tobacco farms where nearly half of the workers are women.
• A study conducted in China, Tanzania and Kenya[19] concluded that few women working in tobacco fields were financially independent, with men holding land titles and receiving higher incomes for the same amount of work.
• Through public relations campaigns, tobacco companies tout their efforts to achieve gender equality in the workplace, even citing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), but without ever mentioning their responsibility for the harm their products cause to women.[20].
• Women who work on tobacco farms in low- and middle-income countries perform the same work as men, while also caring for their children and maintaining their homes. The adverse health effects of tobacco farming are more severe for women who may experience miscarriages as a result of working on tobacco farms during pregnancy.[21].

Tobacco companies continue to invest heavily in marketing campaigns targeting women

Lawsuits launched in the 1980s and 1990s by victims have dragged on for decades and remain unresolved as tobacco companies seek to avoid paying out. Although tobacco companies have compensated a small number of women (mostly airline flight attendants) for their exposure to secondhand smoke in the United States,[22]), many women around the world in similar situations cannot afford to seek redress. In addition, the tobacco industry continues to invest heavily in marketing campaigns targeting young women to promote its products.

• In 2021, BAT invested £1bn in promoting its new products on TikTok, where 60% of users are women[23].
• The PMI-funded Foundation for a Smoke-Free World supports women's initiatives (e.g. in India, Malawi, the United States and New Zealand). Internal documents indicate that the Foundation actually contributes to the progress of PMI and Altria's goals. It increases their visibility and the group's sales, in particular through so-called "socially responsible" activities.

In 2020, the Foundation for a Smoke-Free World awarded small grants for research, including for women bidi rollers in India[24].

 

Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 5: Gender equality and the tobacco industry

How the tobacco industry's "corporate social responsibility" activities are hindering SDG 5 (Achieving gender equality and empowering all women and girls)

As part of their so-called corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities, tobacco companies sponsor initiatives aimed at women. These activities are part of an image policy and with a view to putting pressure on decision-makers in order to prevent tobacco consumption reduction policies that protect women in particular.

In recent years, the tobacco industry has claimed that its support for women's programs is aimed at promoting the SDGs.

The tobacco industry undermines the achievement of UN Goal 5 to empower women and promote gender equality in the following ways:

• By marketing products that kill more than 2 million women each year, and by putting on the market, with intense promotion, new products whose long-term impact on women's health is to this day little known.
• By refusing to compensate women for gender-specific health risks related to tobacco, such as exposure to second-hand smoke and tobacco use during pregnancy.
• By diverting attention from the plight of women working in tobacco farming, consumers or those exposed to tobacco smoke in order to highlight the gender policies of tobacco companies.
• By participating in women's empowerment programs and sponsoring initiatives aimed at women to rehabilitate its image and/or reintegrate political decision-making processes.
• By creating partnerships with influential female groups or personalities to gain legitimacy and credibility, particularly through CSR campaigns.
• By funding women's think tanks that lobby or advocate for tobacco products. For example, the Independent Women's Forum (IWF), a US-based think tank focused on women's social policy issues. The organization has supported PMI's brand (IQOS) and criticized the media debate around vaping in the US, saying that "women are the biggest losers from Bloomberg's anti-e-cigarette propaganda." IWF has accepted funding from industry Philip Morris since 1998 and has recently received donations from Altria.

To meet SDG Goal 5, the following actions should be taken:

• Stop marketing its products to women and stop presenting itself as a company that benefits society.
• Stop opposing effective public health measures to reduce the tobacco epidemic (ban on advertising, promotion and sponsorship, tax policies, etc.)
• Compensate victims for injuries caused by tobacco consumption.
• Stop so-called CSR activities, because they are deployed with a view to establishing a dialogue with decision-makers and they undermine the actions of public authorities to protect the population from the commercial interests of the tobacco industry. In this sense, they are contrary to the provisions of Article 5.3 of the WHO international treaty Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.
• Article 13 of the Framework Convention imposes a complete ban on all tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship, which includes so-called CSR activities or communication around these activities. Public authorities should not allow exceptions.
• Ban the promotion of gender-related industry activities: This has the effect of spreading misconceptions about the tobacco industry's true role in women's health.

©Generation Without Tobacco

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[1] World Health Organization. 2010. 10 Facts on gender and tobacco. Geneva, Switzerland: WHO Department of Gender, Women and Health; 2010 [2] Global Health Metrics. Tobacco-Level 2 risk. Global burden of disease 2019 risk factor summaries [3] Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, University of Washington. 2021. GBD Compare / IHME Viz Hub. Global Burden of Disease 2019. [4] World Health Organization, supra note 1 [5] Slabbert, I. August 8, 2016. Domestic Violence and Poverty: Some Women's Experiences. Research on Social Work Practice [Online]. 2017;27(2):223-230. doi.org/10.1177/1049731516662321. [6] Lecours N, Almeida GEG, Abdallah JM, Novotny TE. 16 February 2012. Environmental health impacts of tobacco farming: A review of the literature. Tobacco Control. 2012;21:191-196. doi:10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2011-050318 [7] International Labor Organization. 2019. Background report for the technical meeting to promote an exchange of views on the further development and implementation of the integrated strategy to address decent work deficits in the tobacco sector [8] Indonesian cigarettes made from a complex blend of tobacco, cloves and an aromatic "sauce". [9] The bidi is a type of cone-shaped Indian cigarette. [10] Tobacco Control Research Group – University of Bath. December 21, 2020. Targeting Women and Girls. Tobacco Tactics. [11] Maitin-Shepard M, Correll-Carlyle R and Shaikh S. April 7, 2020. Tobacco Industry Targets Women and Girls as Next Generation of Smokers. The Tobacco Atlas [12] Christopher Johnson, Tobacco sponsorship of sports could doom Japan's Olympic bid, Washington Times, December 1, 2011, accessed March 8, 2021 [13] 2 Coley V. January 24, 2018. Julie Gunlock testimony before US Food and Drug Administration Advisory Panel. Independent Women's Forum – US FDA to approve PMI's IQOS ecigarettes, arguing that women need the products for various biological reasons to help them quit smoking regular cigarettes. [14] CNCT, The scourge of female smoking, a consequence of tobacco industry advertising strategies, October 31, 2019, accessed March 8, 2021 [15] Japan Tobacco International. Empowering a new generation of business women in Turkey. [16] British American Tobacco. Women in Leadership. Diversity Initiatives. Introducing our Women in STEM initiative BAT hailed for IWD best practice [17] 16% of all monetary charitable contributions were spent on “Empowering women” in Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Pakistan, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam; Israel, Jordan, Morocco, South Africa, Turkey, Ukraine; Austria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Germany, Greece, Italy, Slovakia, Switzerland; Argentina, Brazil, El Salvador, Panama, Canada, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Mexico. See: Philip Morris International. 2018. 2018 Charitable contributions at a glance. HAS [18] Ceylon Tobacco Company, Corporate Social Investments, CTC website [19] T. Hu, AH Lee, Women in Tobacco Farming: Health, Equality and Empowerment, Center for International Tobacco Control, Public Health Institute, October 2016 [20] 1 Philip Morris International. Integrated Report 2019. British American Tobacco. Sustainability Strategy Report 2019 [21] T. Hu, AH Lee, Women in Tobacco Farming: Health, Equality and Empowerment, Center for International Tobacco Control, Public Health Institute, October 2016 [22] Broin v. Philip Morris Companies, et al., 641 So.2d 888 (Fla. App. 1994). In: Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. 2021. Litigation by country: United States. Broin v. Philip Morris Companies, Inc. [23] Tobacco Free Generation, BAT invests £1bn to promote new products to young people, February 22, 2021, accessed March 8, 2021 [24] Grant to AF Development Care LLP in: Foundation for a Smoke-Free World (FSFW). 2019. Awarded grants National Committee Against Smoking |