Secondhand smoke policySex, Gender, and Secondhand Smoke Policies: Implications for Disadvantaged Women
Section snippets
Background
Exposure to secondhand smoke (SHS) increases the risk of lung cancer and ischemic heart disease among nonsmokers, and children exposed to SHS are at increased risk of bronchitis, asthma attacks, pneumonia, middle ear disease, sudden infant death syndrome, and a reduction in lung function.1 Nonsmoking women who are exposed to SHS have a greater chance than men of developing respiratory diseases (particularly lung cancer).2, 3, 4 A recent report indicates that SHS also increases the incidence of
Methods
A review of current literature, primarily published between 2000 and 2008, on sex- and gender-related issues linked to SHS exposure and the effects of SHS policies for various subpopulations of women, including low-income girls and women, nonwhite minority women, and pregnant women, was conducted. The literature reviewed was primarily from developed countries, including the U.S., Canada, Australia, and the UK. These materials were critically analyzed using a sex and gender analysis, allowing
Patterns of Exposure and Opportunities for Protection
Developing programs and policies that protect all women effectively from exposure to SHS requires an examination of macro-, meso-, and micro-level contexts, where smoke-free policies are enacted, experienced, and resisted. The macro level refers to broad social structural influences, including societal values; the meso level refers to social organizations such as work and religious and educational settings; and the micro level refers to the individual or interpersonal context.13 At the macro
Discussion and Conclusion
To date, policies and initiatives aimed at reducing SHS and exposure to SHS have not consistently been designed with sex and gender issues in mind. Nor have their effects, both intended and unintended, been consistently examined or evaluated according to these dimensions. This article has addressed these issues for low-income women, framed in three contextual levels (macro-, meso-, and micro-), where examination of various dynamics and processes reveal varied unintended results. Evidence that
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