Local Press: Saudi women and smoking

A recent report revealed that the number of smokers in Saudi Arabia has reached more than 6 million.

I find this number very strange, especially in an educated society that realizes the dangers of smoking, whether they are health, social or financial hazards.

What caught my attention in this high number is that out of these 6 million smokers, 1 million are women. This number is big and scary.

Besides the dangers, what is the woman smoker going to tell her children at home when they see her smoking as she is supposed to be a role model for them?

What is the smoking woman teacher going to tell her students at school when they find out that she smokes?

The gentle and beautiful women should not sully their lips with cigarettes. The gentle and beautiful women should not replace the smell of perfume on their bodies with the smell of smoke.

One million women smokers is indeed a dangerous number. The majority of them are young women.

This raises many questions. What are the reasons behind 1 million women smoking in a conservative Saudi society? Is it because of the lack of family supervision? Is it because of unemployment and plenty of free time? Is it because women are working outside home and not paying attention to the kids any more? Is it because women are searching for gender equality? Is it because they would like to imitate actors on TV? Or is it because of the Internet?

There are many questions that need to be answered by experts. This is a dangerous subject and we need a national project to fight smoking. We do not need useless seminars or distribution of brochures. We need to use modern ways to fight smoking.