Let's address women's silent struggle with alcoholism

A few years back, I had a captivating conversation with a woman in her 40s who had been battling against alcoholism and drug addiction for half her life.

She raised a poignant point about how women’s struggles with addiction often go unnoticed, unchecked and undocumented as they hardly speak up for fear of being labelled as morally deficient or deviant.

“There’s unbearable shame and stigma for a woman who’s addicted to alcohol and drugs,” she explained.

Our society tends to portray alcohol consumption and addiction as primarily a male issue. Recent data from the Kenya Demographic Health Survey (KDHS), as reported by the National Authority for the Campaign against Alcohol and Drug Abuse (Nacada), supported this idea, showing more men than women consuming alcohol, particularly in urban areas.

The data further indicated that for every woman who consumed alcohol every day or almost every day, there were two men.

Although statistics don't lie, there's a "data bias in a world designed for men," as Caroline Criado Perez, the author of the eye-opening book Invisible Women, aptly puts it.

She adds that throughout recorded human history, women's lives have often been met with silence, resulting in significant data gaps. This silence corrupts the big data we rely on.

Unfortunately, this data bias extends to Kenya's “big alcohol problem” – as the Daily Nation recently phrased it – especially concerning women.

The reality of women's alcohol consumption remains hidden from conventional data collection methods. The social stigma attached to female drinking habits also leads to underreporting, and gender-specific factors are often overlooked in surveys and research. This means the true number of women who regularly consume alcohol is significantly underestimated.

A friend of mine, who used to run a bar on Kiambu Road, once shared an intriguing observation. Middle-aged women would enter the bar, order dawa (a concoction of hot water, lemon, honey, and ginger), and discreetly ask the waiters to add generous amounts of whiskey or an alcoholic drink of choice to the mix. “They want to enjoy alcohol but fear being judged," she explained.

Inadequate data

This silent struggle is a vivid reflection of the inadequacy in data collection and understanding of women's unique relationship with alcohol.

Unfortunately, this deficient capturing of data on women’s drinking leaves policymakers ill-equipped to address the unique challenges faced by women in relation to alcohol.

It also undermines our ability to develop effective policies to address potential health and societal implications. Women process alcohol differently from men because of physiological differences, and we need to acknowledge these distinctions in crafting policies to help them.

Gender-inclusive policies should also consider the social stigma faced by women seeking help for alcohol-related issues. It's high time we acknowledged the changing roles of women in society and recognise that women, too, drink heavily and sometimes face addiction—potentially in higher numbers than reported.

To tackle this issue responsibly, we must encourage open conversations, break down stereotypes, and prioritise women's health through gender-sensitive responses and policies.

The writer comments on social and gender topics (@FaithOneya; [email protected]).