Women and Smoking – Time to face the Crisis

Published: Tuesday, January 15, 2013

The NWCI and the Irish Cancer Society held a very successful conference on the issue of Women and Smoking in July 2012 which brought together policymakers, healthcare professionals, academis and representatives from women's groups to explore why women are smoking and how they can be supported to quit. The key findings of the conference and the results of specific research carried out by Irish Cancer Society have now been summarised in a new report 'Women and Smoking - Time to face the Crisis'.

This report identifies the reasons why women start smoking and continue to smoke and makes practical and achievable recommendations as to how we can address this crisis. We need a national strategy that takes differences between women and men in relation to smoking into account. The strategy should address crucial issues such as standards for cessation services, the introduction of plain packaging for tobacco products and the development of community based smoking cessation services for women, in particular  women from disadvantaged communities. The National Women's Council look forward to our continued collaboration with the Irish Cancer Society to raise awareness of the health effects of smoking and to urge the government to take on board the recommendations contained in this report and dedicate resources to tackle this crisis.

Download the Report Women and Smoking - Time to face the Crisis