Through a gender lens: women and tobacco in the WHO European Region

ABSTRACT

This report provides a brief summary of some of the challenges, old and new, that women and girls face in the context of the tobacco epidemic in the WHO European Region, outlining the gendered nature of tobacco use and exposure and how the tobacco industry continues to target them through gendered messaging. It also provides recommendations for approaches and policy interventions that take a gender lens to tobacco control. The WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) strongly underpins gender equality and highlights the importance of addressing gender-specific risks. This report seeks to reinforce these aspects of the WHO FCTC, supplement tobacco-control reports published by the WHO Regional Office for Europe, and follow up on the recommendations of the WHO European strategy for women’s health and well-being by promoting gender-responsive tobacco-control policy.