Anushka woke up with a start. What was today? Saturday? Sunday? Monday? She had no clue. She scrambled over to her bedside table and checked her alarm clock - Sunday -phew - no work today, she thought. Her mouth felt dry and her insides felt terrible. She ran over to the bathroom and threw up. “Uh I really need to cut down on drinking,” she thought as the contents of her stomach found their way down the toilet bowl. Some spaghetti, some garlic bread, and a whole lot of guilt and shame.
Anushka isn’t alone. In India, around 1.6% of women aged 10–75 consume alcohol, compared to 27.3% of men in the same age group. Some states have higher percentages than others. In Arunachal Pradesh, 26% of women aged 15–49 consume alcohol. Alcohol consumption among women has been increasing over the recent past.
But what is it about alcohol consumption and women’s health that needs to be talked about? What we want to address here is alcohol and women’s health or rather effects of alcohol on women’s health.