Drug and alcohol abuse - a gender problem

[Gender issues] [Drug and alcohol abuse prevention]

There still tends to be an impression that the abuse of alcohol and drugs by women is something of a marginal issue for women. But nothing could be further from the truth. This is because:

women themselves are using more drugs and alcohol;

they are becoming increasingly more abusive of alcohol and drugs; and

as primary care-takers, they are directly affected by the abusive patterns of others in their lives - whether parents, siblings, husbands or children, especially by men, who traditionally have had the greatest problems with abuse and addiction.

In addition, there are various reasons which may explain the rise in alcohol and drug consumption among women in developed countries:

working women are now facing many of the same frustrations, anxieties and stress-inducing factors which have long pushed men to turn to alcohol and/or drugs as a means of seeking escape or comfort, or merely of coping with reality;

more women are working in professions where the stressful and tiring environments tend to lead to occasional use and subsequent abuse;

many women work in medical professions, which tend to combine stress and the possibility of easy access to drugs to counter the demands of the job;

the social bonhomie associated with drinking after a hard day's work has extended to women as part of a climate of equality - for example, in Norway it has been found that working women drink twice as much alcohol as non-working women (see Women, alcohol and drugs in the Nordic countries, Nordic Council for Alcohol and Drug Research, No. 16.) and

as a result of their increased purchasing power as women enter the labour market in larger numbers, marketers of alcoholic beverages have increasingly been targeting the more glamorous aspects of women consuming alcohol in their advertising campaigns.

An important additional stress factor for many women is the delicate juggling act that they have to perform between work and other responsibilities. Despite some of the strides that have been made, women remain the primary caretakers and nurturers in society. The "superwoman syndrome" has led many women to over-extend themselves in trying to do it all - a successful career, marital harmony, well-adjusted children, caring for elderly parents, an active social life and participation in sports and community service. Many women have burned out in the process, with some turning to alcohol or drugs.

Women are high consumers of legal drugs and have a high rate of addiction to drugs such as tranquillizers, sleeping pills, amphetamines and diet pills. Naturally, the cascading negative effects of substance abuse on all the various roles that women undertake only serve to make their problems worse.

The indirect effect of drugs and alcohol on women is also colossal. Women bear the brunt of "managing" substance abusers in the family. Violent and abusive behaviours are no strangers to women involved in a relationship with an active abuser. Broken homes, lost jobs and picking up the economic slack of an abusing breadwinner squandering precious earnings are all classical scenarios that women have had to cope with throughout the ages. Although saddled with more and more responsibilities, women who try to rationalize the behaviour of a substance abuser often end up psychologically depleted and physically exhausted, thereby increasing the "dysfunctional" family atmosphere which is so detrimental to its members. And yet, traditionally, women have suffered their lot silently and accepted the shame and stigma associated with having an abusing and abusive family member.

These disconcerting realities, combined with the fact that 30 per cent of the world's households are headed by women, underline the urgency of focussing on the effects of drug and alcohol abuse on women.

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[Gender issues] [Drug and alcohol abuse prevention]

Updated by AS, approved by JP. Last modification: May 2000.