Women and alcohol: Why we’re drinking more than ever and ignoring the health dangers
Simone Barclay shakes her head as she recalls a recent supermarket visit. “I was looking at the rosé section – it’s like half the wine section now. And I’m not surprised. Because it looks so pretty and fresh and the labels are gorgeous, and it’s like, whoa, why wouldn’t you drink this stuff?”
The psychologist has been sober for 25 years. But even she was tempted by the display, seemingly aimed very much at women.
“That particular genre is very feminine. And it’s fresh and summery and it’s pink, for god’s sake.” For Barclay, the takeaway impression was, “How harmful can it be?”
Barclay specialises in addiction and sees a large number of women in her practice. Alcohol is baked into our culture, she says. “Alcohol is still the most widely available, accessible and socially endorsed drug.”
She notes that every one of our transitions as humans is marked by the consumption of alcohol: birth, christenings, birthday celebrations, marriages, funerals.
“We are so surrounded by it in every way that for many people I think it’s impossible to think of a life without alcohol in it.”
Alcohol has become far more prevalent in our lives over the generations, but there’s been a particular shift for women. Jennie Connor, emeritus professor in the department of preventive and social medicine at Otago University, has spent much of her career researching alcohol harms and policies. She says that over time it has become more common for women to drink.
“In my parents’ generation, women drank a lot less than men, and it was quite common to be a non-drinking woman.
“Women really did consume a lot less alcohol. And now they drink less than men but it’s not that much. Basically, everyone in New Zealand is a drinker.”
The most recent New Zealand Health Survey shows that in 2022/23, more than three out of four adults (76.3%) drank alcohol in the past year – 3,205,000 of us aged over 15. Among women, 73% reported drinking, compared with 80% of men. The numbers are higher for the over-45s: 81% for women aged 45-54 and 76% for ages 55-64. Wāhine Māori are drinking at higher levels in most age groups.