In many parts of the world, it would be uncontroversial to say that women have the right to smoke, though this right often comes burdened with the unspoken idea that really they shouldn’t. No doubt this partly explains why smoking rates among men are higher than they are among women even in liberal societies.
In India, according to a piece by Rhea Almeida in Feminism in India, the pressures that women alone are subjected to are disguised under the claim that smoking – and much else that is enjoyable – is against India’s moral fiber and traditional customs of ‘dutifulness’.
Almeida is aware that she is standing on shaky ground in respect of smoking and she makes clear that she is not advocating that women should smoke, only that they should have the right to choose whether to smoke.
‘Smoking kills, this we know,’ she writes. ‘But for several women in urban India, not smoking isn’t always an informed, health-conscious choice. Often it’s not a choice at all, it’s a social construct. And for many who do choose to smoke, it’s a struggle or a secret you’re forced to keep.’
Almeida, who works for women’s economic development in India, closes here lengthy piece by saying that the trend of curbing a woman’s freedom exists across India in many colours and shapes.
‘While the act of smoking itself is not a liberator or emancipator for women, despite what big tobacco would have us believe, the freedom of choice to smoke or not to smoke, is,’ she said.
A matter of choice
