Two surveys conducted to mark the occasion of World No Tobacco Day (May 31) revealed that smoking among women employees in the BPO and media sector is slowly on the rise. The two separate surveys were conducted by Dr Gauravi Mishra consultant, Department of Preventive Oncology, Tata Memorial Hospital and Dr Ravikant Singh, founder president 'Doctors for You', an NGO which consists of voluntary medical doctors and students that works towards improving the lives of people through provision of better health and education.
The study conducted by Dr Gauravi Mishra during a period of one year and involving more than 800 employees between four BPO units, found that 8 per cent of call center women employees were smokers. It also established that smoking occurred during break time where smokers and non-smokers intermingled. The average age of respondents was between 20 to 25 years. Male employees in the four BPO centers surveyed constituted 80 per cent of the workforce, while call center women employees formed the remaining 20 per cent.
Most of the BPO employees surveyed had poor knowledge on the ill-effects of smoking. The medical history of employees revealed predominance of respiratory symptoms such as cough, throat pain, bronchitis, breathlessness and gastric disorders. Many employees presented with hoarseness of voice, which may be due to the combination of voice based requirement of the job in addition to ill-effects of smoking.
On the other hand, the survey conducted by Dr Ravikant among 1,500 journalists across 15 leading print, electronic and advertising houses over a period of one month, found that the number of women in the media profession, who smoked has increased from 5 to 35 per cent in the last few years. He said, "Tobacco companies have been using eye catching campaigns to target the gullible youth especially young women through various surrogate mediums such as fashion shows. This habit picked up early in life becomes all the more difficult to get rid of later in life especially if they are in the company of smokers."
Releasing the findings, Dr Gauravi Mishra, said, "The growing phenomenon of smoking among women employees is due to peer pressure. Several BPO employees frequent hookah bars to unwind, while others smoke in either the office corridors or washrooms. While a lot of women admitted to smoking, cases of passive smoking bothered several other women."
Dr Gauravi Mishra achieved good 'tobacco quit rates', after making use of different intervention strategies during her study. However, high attrition rate among the BPO employees proved to be a major stumbling block in taking the study further.
The study in its conclusion recommended a comprehensive health policy incorporating tobacco cessation programs as an extended benefit to the BPO employees to help them quit the habit. Further, the study suggested that BPO employers need to incorporate proper awareness and education programs on concepts such as ergonomics, healthy lifestyles and psychosocial related problems.
Stating that the study findings were a serious cause for concern, professor Surendra Shastri, head, Preventive Oncology at the Tata Memorial Hospital and Chairman of Smokefree Mumbai Campaign, said, "Smoking among women workforce in the BPO industry and media houses has become a common phenomenon these days. Most women start off as young girls when they believe smoking is glamorous. Some choose smoking as they think it's a quick-fix solution to their stress problems. Young girls do not realize that due to smoking, they are at a risk of several reproductive hazards such as low birth weight, lower gestation periods and higher rate of still-borns apart from cardio-vascular risks."
The Smokefree Mumbai campaign was launched on February 20, 2009 by the Action Council against Tobacco-India (ACT-India) along with partners, the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM), Tata Memorial Hospital, Healis Sekhsaria Institute for Public Health, Salaam Bombay Foundation, Cancer Patients Aid Association, V-CARE, Tata Steel (Wires Division), Tata Chemicals Limited, AHAR & Americares, to ensure the implementation of the national legislation passed on October 2, 2008 for smoke-free public places.