City Talk: Smoking and marriage are uneasy partners.

(From Gulf News)

Byline: Shadiah Abdullah

Can smoking hurt your marriage prospects?

The answer was 'yes' according to some Dubai residents who talked to Gulf News in a spot survey.

Your chances diminish further if you are a female, they said. Some men, even though they smoked, said they would not marry a woman who smokes. Their attitude showed that there is still a taboo associated with women smoking in this part of the world.

They attributed their rejection of a woman smoking to the fact that a conservative society or parents do not accept such behaviour from a woman. One of the men even broke his engagement with his fiancée because she refused to give up the habit. …