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Just as society can tolerate a drunk male but abhors a drunk female so too the issue of female alcoholism which is very much there and is increasing seems to be a taboo subject with society preferring to sweep it under the carpet and pretend that it does not exist.

Traditionally, drinking has been a male preserve especially drinking in public but due to shifting roles in modern society the sight of women revelers is becoming increasingly common assisted of course by there newly acquired and ever increasing spending power. So what then is the big deal whether the alcoholic is male or female because if the male can have the so called 'X-Factor', (the causes which one seems to be born with but which are still to be positively identified which cause alcoholism in a minority of the populace but not the rest.) so too can the female.

Of cause women like men have a variety of reasons for starting to drink alcoholic beverages in the first place but probably like the men the most obvious one is that of the feel good factor one experiences when they drink, the stimulating effects of alcohol before the sedative effects kick in.

The producers of alcoholic beverages too seem to have cashed in on this fact hence a proliferation of all kinds of concoctions in enticing packages all geared to the female drinker. Drinks like Smirnoff Ice from United Distillers and Vintners (UDV) Pilsner Ice and Pilsner Ice Light from Kenya Breweries Limited, Redds an initially canned and now bottled ale distributed by Castle Brewing and a large array of fruit-flavored wines are all now common in bars, restaurants and supermarkets.

But at the same time it is now common to find women drinking beers just like the men, not mention finding women at joints where they serve all manner of local brews some of them lethal. This was a sight almost impossible to see in the past. So what then is the difference between the male and female alcoholic?

There are significant differences that might not be apparent to a casual observer and one of them is the blood alcohol level (BAL) which is simply put the concentration of alcohol in the body measured in the percentage of alcohol in the blood. When a person drinks more alcohol than his body can get rid of it begins to accumulate in the blood stream and the BAL rises. As this rises, the drinker's behavior, thoughts and emotions are affected with major disruptions occurring at higher BALs.

A number of factors affect the rate at which the BAL rises and one of these is weight. The heavier a person is, the more water there is in the body to dilute the alcohol and reduce the BAL and with this in mind then females reach higher BALs faster as they have less water in their bodies and more adipose tissue (fat) which is not easily penetrated by alcohol. Thus a woman will get drunk on less alcohol and feel it longer than her male counterpart.

Hormones are also a factor that affect the BAL, with women experiencing higher levels premenstrualy with the corresponding behavior change being highest here and lower levels on the first day of their cycle with the least behavioral changes here.

Men whether alcoholic or not but having imbibed sufficient quantities of alcohol often become sexually impotent but herein lies another major difference for this is not true of women although the alcoholic woman might lose her sex appeal as well as her interest in sex. Badly groomed, with red, bloodshot eyes poor skin quality caused by malnutrition which nearly all alcoholics suffer from, weight gain and bloating she becomes quite repellent in the eyes of men her fellow women and society.

Strangely the woman prone to alcoholism will drink for quite a while without any untoward signs of alcoholism and till some specific event will hurl her into heavy drinking and then into alcoholism passing all the intervening stages with a rapidity hardly known to her male counterparts. These emotional traumas can range from loss of a loved one to gynaecological difficulties.

Women alcoholics tend to conceal their drinking much more than men and this is also partly due to the fact that where society will tolerate and even sometimes condone drunken behavior in a man ('isn't he entertaining and witty when he is high?') a drunken woman is seen as disgusting, a vile creature not even worth any pity. So that apart from the guilt she already carries like any other alcoholic there is the humiliation of the shame and feelings of failure and fear of ostracism she feels from society's double standards thus it is not surprising that their denial of the problem is much stronger than in men. Society does not even like seeing women coming with their spouses to the bars and other drinking places where people drink in public and frequently you will find the men using derogative terms on independent minded groups of women who pop into a pub by themselves for an after work or weekend get together and drink.

Breast cancer is another scepter that haunts women who drink, as this is an extra disease for them from the list of other diseases caused or made worse by alcohol. The risk of contracting this dread disease is directly proportionate to the amount of alcohol consumed while at the same time seeming to pose according to Newsweek (May 18, 1987), the greatest hazard for younger women.

Anchor of the family, the roots and the base, is usually the woman whether she is working or not. She is somehow the glue which binds the whole family together, nurse, peacemaker, confidante, cook, driver, mother, wife and best friend all rolled into one and thus when this glue becomes unstuck the whole family becomes adrift. It is usually easier for the family when the male is the alcoholic than when the woman is. Where it is the woman involved the family seems literally to tear apart.

The most obvious difference is when it comes to pregnancy and here the alcoholic woman really needs to be made aware of the dangers her condition causes to the unborn child. Because just as she drinks too much, so does the foetus which is totally helpless against this massive deluge of alcohol. The Foetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS), is where children of alcoholic mothers suffer from stunted growth, mental retardation, facial disfigurations like flattened noses and is well documented.

At the same time the foetus can also become addicted while in the womb with the subsequent severing of the umbilical cord leading to withdrawal symptoms. The newborn may later in life be come instantly addicted on taking there 'first' drink undergoing immediate tolerance changes, craving and withdrawal symptoms when they stop drinking. This so-called " instant alcoholic" may have triggered an addiction, which actually began before he was born when his mother supplied him with high doses of alcohol in the course of feeding her own addiction.

How seriously this is being taken is shown by the recent proposal under consideration by the District of Columbia City Council, in the USA to remove babies from their mothers custody if they are born with alcohol or other drug addictions. According to a report by WJLA-TV on November 16, 2001 under this legislation children exposed to alcohol or other drugs would be considered neglected or abused. As a result the DC Child and Family Agency would be required to begin immediate proceedings to remove the child from the home of the mother.

Thus it would appear that society needs to lend a hand to the female alcoholic if not much more, then at least the same as the help extended to men. For in women too it is a disease which can be managed with timely intervention for lest we forget one thing is tragically the same in both male and female alcoholism and that is that failure to stop will lead ultimately and unerringly to JAIL, INSTITUTIONALISATION, or DEATH!

A condensed version of this article appeared in the East African Standard newspaper under the heading 'Women too can sink into the abyss of alcoholism'

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