Why Some Cultures Forbid Smoking for Women

Cross-cultural research reveals a consistent pattern: in the vast majority of societies, tobacco use has been substantially more common among men than women [citation:8][citation:10]. This isn’t accidental — it stems from broader gender-based social controls that have restricted women’s behavior across cultures and centuries [citation:8].

In 19th-century Europe and America, smoking was strictly a male domain [citation:3]. The reasons were rooted in Victorian morality:

• Smoking was seen as corrupt and immoral for women — cigarettes were props of “fallen women” and prostitutes [citation:2].
• Dutch painters in the 17th century used tobacco as a symbol of human foolishness — but only men were depicted [citation:2].
• “Proper” women did not smoke in public — smoking was confined to private spaces, away from the eyes of men and children [citation:9].

Russia’s relationship with tobacco was uniquely dramatic. After a massive fire in Moscow in 1634, Tsar Mikhail Romanov issued an edict banning smoking and the import of tobacco [citation:1]. The punishments were brutal:

• First offense: 60 blows to the feet with a stick [citation:1]
• Second offense: Cutting off the nose and ears [citation:1]
• Merchants selling tobacco had their nostrils torn out and were exiled to Siberia [citation:1]

However, when Peter the Great traveled to Holland and became a heavy smoker himself, the ban was overturned [citation:1]. This created a new norm: Russian men smoked freely, but women were still expected to abstain [citation:1].

One of the most surprising cases is China. From the 17th to 19th centuries, smoking was socially acceptable for Chinese women — though with class and gender differences [citation:7].

• Men could smoke in public. Well-mannered women smoked privately, out of view [citation:7].
• Early 20th century: The number of women who smoked cigarettes increased, especially in coastal cities [citation:7].
• 1930s-1940s: The trend reversed. Cigarettes became associated with the “Modern Girl” — portrayed as extravagant, sexually promiscuous, and disloyal to the nation [citation:7].
• After 1949 (PRC establishment): The number of women smokers diminished even further [citation:7].

Today: About 48% of Chinese men smoke, but less than 2% of women do [citation:7].

Research on Mexican-origin smokers reveals a fascinating pattern [citation:5]:

• Among Mexican-origin women, smoking rates INCREASE with greater acculturation to the U.S. — as they adopt more “American” norms, they smoke more [citation:5].
• Among men, the opposite occurs: Greater acculturation is associated with higher likelihood of quitting [citation:5].
• This suggests that Mexican culture had stronger restrictions on women’s smoking than U.S. culture did in the post-war period [citation:5].

The most dramatic shift in Western attitudes toward women’s smoking came not from grassroots feminism, but from a carefully orchestrated public relations campaign by the tobacco industry [citation:2][citation:6].

📜 The Architect: Edward Bernays (Freud’s Nephew)

In 1928, George Washington Hill, president of the American Tobacco Company, hired Edward Bernays — now known as the “father of public relations” — to expand the female cigarette market [citation:6].

Bernays consulted psychoanalyst A.A. Brill (a disciple of Sigmund Freud), who declared that cigarettes were “torches of freedom” for women, suppressing their “feminine desires” as they took on men’s roles [citation:2][citation:6].

📜 The 1929 Easter Sunday Parade

Bernays paid women to march in the New York City Easter Sunday Parade, smoking their “torches of freedom” [citation:2][citation:6].

• He was careful to pick women who were “good looking, but should not look too model-y” [citation:2].
• He hired his own photographers to ensure good pictures were taken and published worldwide [citation:2].
• Feminist Ruth Hale called for women to join: “Women! Light another torch of freedom! Fight another sex taboo!” [citation:2]
• The event was framed as a protest for equality — not a cigarette ad [citation:6].

📜 The Results

• In 1923, women purchased only 5% of cigarettes sold [citation:2].
• By 1929, that percentage increased to 12% [citation:2].
• By 1935, it reached 18.1% [citation:2].
• By 1965, it peaked at 33.3% [citation:2].

In 1968, Philip Morris launched Virginia Slims, a cigarette brand designed specifically for women [citation:2][citation:6]. The slogan — “You’ve come a long way, baby” — explicitly linked smoking to women’s liberation.

• Advertisements showed glamorous, independent, modern women.
• The message was clear: smoking was what successful, emancipated women did.
• By the 1990s, tobacco companies were exporting this same imagery to developing countries [citation:2].

In countries such as Spain, ads featured women in masculine jobs (fighter pilots) to appeal to young women. Smoking rates among young women in Spain increased from 17% in 1978 to 27% in 1997 [citation:2].

• Myth #1: “Women have always smoked less than men everywhere.” Reality: In some groups, tobacco use was about equally common for both sexes — though no culture has been found where women smoked more than men [citation:8][citation:10].
• Myth #2: “The ban on women smoking was about health.” Reality: It was about morality, propriety, and social control — not health. Men were smoking heavily while women were arrested [citation:2].
• Myth #3: “Women started smoking because of feminism.” Reality: They started smoking because tobacco companies co-opted feminism for profit [citation:6].
• Myth #4: “China has always had low female smoking rates.” Reality: Chinese women smoked openly in earlier centuries — the low rates are a 20th-century phenomenon [citation:7].