Equality in Smoking & Disease: Nobody Wins!
![Equality in smoking & Disease Nobody Wins! Nearly 20 million women and girls in the United States smoke cigarettes.](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20201219234500im_/https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/basic_information/health_effects/women-smoking/images/header2.jpg)
![Image of magazine pages showing women](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20201219234500im_/https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/basic_information/health_effects/women-smoking/images/print-ads.gif)
![Peace sign](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20201219234500im_/https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/basic_information/health_effects/women-smoking/images/peace-sign.gif)
DURING THE
60’s and 70’s
TOBACCO COMPANIES
TARGETED WOMEN.
![Image of blue and red bubbles with male and female icons and the years of 1964 and 2014.](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20201219234500im_/https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/basic_information/health_effects/women-smoking/images/year-bubbles.jpg)
In the last 50 years
a woman’s risk of
dying from smoking has
______________
MORE
THAN
TRIPLED
______________
and is now equal to a
man’s risk.
![Image of a gray bar](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20201219234500im_/https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/basic_information/health_effects/women-smoking/images/gray-bar.jpg)
![Image of three circles with female, male and lungs icons](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20201219234500im_/https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/basic_information/health_effects/women-smoking/images/circles.jpg)
WOMEN
WHO SMOKE
ARE
MORE
LIKELY
______________
to die from COPD
than men who smoke.
![Woman holding a sign that says Women over age 35 who smoke have a slightly higher risk of dying from heart disease than men who smoke](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20201219234500im_/https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/basic_information/health_effects/women-smoking/images/woman-board.jpg)
![gray bar](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20201219234500im_/https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/basic_information/health_effects/women-smoking/images/gray-bar-half.jpg)
MORE THAN
200,000
WOMEN DIE EVERY YEAR
______________
from smoking-related disease
compared with 270,000 men
who die from smoking-related
disease every year.
![Image of a circle and bubbles and icons of females and males](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20201219234500im_/https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/basic_information/health_effects/women-smoking/images/circles2.jpg)
![Image of a gray bar](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20201219234500im_/https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/basic_information/health_effects/women-smoking/images/gray-bar.jpg)
WOMEN SMOKERS SHOULD QUIT SMOKING.
For help, they can visit women.smokefree.govexternal icon or call 1-800-QUIT-NOW.
![Image of a gray bar](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20201219234500im_/https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/basic_information/health_effects/women-smoking/images/gray-bar.jpg)
Page last reviewed: April 28, 2020