Women in Prison with Alcohol Problems: Why Gender-Responsive Policies Matter
Contemporary Drug Problems › Vol. 34 Nbr. 3, October 2007
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Summary
The aim of this article is to show the results of alcohol consumption in a sample of female inmates and to reflect on the gaps existing regarding the issue of women with alcohol problems from a public policy and gender perspective in Mexico. A descriptive retrospective study was carried out in a non-probabilistic convenience sample of 213 women. Ninety-one percent of the women reported having tried alcohol at some time in their lives and 19.7% qualified for alcohol dependence on three or more criteria. Women had important health problems associated with alcohol consumption: gastritis, malnutrition, and blood pressure problems. One-third of the sampled women used alcohol while pregnant. More than a half were experiencing a major depressive episode. It is important to modify public policies so that women in general and marginalized women in particular have access to mental health services and addictions.
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Extract
Women in Prison with Alcohol Problems: Why Gender-Responsive Policies Matter
Interest in health inequalities has grown in recent years. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines them as variations in health status between social categories that are unnecessary, avoidable, and unfair. The extent of a society's commitment to justice determines the extent to which available knowledge is transformed into actions and population policies to achieve this.
The biological, sexual, cultural and social differences between men and women have implications for which health problems affect them and how, and therefore for their health and social intervention needs. Sex, in the biological sense, plays a key role because of differences in the effects of treatments, the results of diagnostic tests and the manifestation of clinical signs and symptoms in men and women. Sex, in connection with differences in the reproductive act, produces distinguishing features between men and women and specific needs. Gender is a concept that incorporates the social factors associated with men's and women's different patterns of socialization, which in turn have to do wi...See the full content of this document
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