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In the past five years, the UK has reported that 50% more women have been arrested for being drunk and disorderly conduct, a growth which began in 1953 in the United States. The problem with this growth is that it has been found that heavy drinking in women is much more risky than in men.  It has also been found that drinking alcohol by women, even in the smaller amounts, will affect women differently than men.

Statistics of Alcohol and Women

The Dietary Guidelines for Americans state that men can drink twice as much as women because more alcohol disperses in the woman's body through their digestive tract. This is because women have less water than men in their body, with women having less water pound per pound. The woman's brain and organs will be exposed to more alcohol than the men before it is broken down.

With one-third of the U.S. women drinking alcohol, one out of ten average two or more alcoholic drinks a day. This heavily influences a woman's health: one drink a day raises the risk of them having breast cancer; fetal alcohol syndrome of the unborn baby can be obtained by seven plus drinks a week; heavy drinking increases the drinking woman's chance of being sexually assaulted or violently attacked.  But more and more women attempt to "drink their man under the table" which is a red flag for alcoholism or alcohol dependency.

Accidents with female drivers are on the rise, with fatal traffic accidents increasing, while accidents with male drivers are on the decrease. Also, heavily drinking young women are more apt to have unsafe sex after five drinks or more may also be susceptible to rape or being abused. Relationships with young couples which involved drinking are more apt to have problems and less able to succeed than in relationships with no alcohol involved.

Age of Drinking Women

White women in their 20s into the 30s will drink more than any other age, except for women who have already developed alcoholism issues. But statistics show us that African-American women have a tendency to develop drinking problems in middle age. With this in mind, ethnic origins and native cultures influence drinking patterns in women more than age.

More than age, coping with stress plays heavily in the reason women drink. Many times, this stress begins in the women's early years with sexual and physical abuse as a child. Over the years, this causes the drinking to become more severe --- especially for women who drink alone at home.

Factors Involved in Drinking Women

** Alcohol problems in parents and siblings

** Alcohol problems in a husband or partner

** Inability to hold liquor

** A history of depression

** Childhood abuse – sexual, physical and emotional