Can We End Alcohol Abuse?
“If you had magic wand and could only do one thing to improve women’s lot, what would you choose? We are on the same page that India’s growth has not generated enough jobs to make deviations from the “women-stay-at-home” norm worthwhile. But keeping India’s industrial policy fixed, what you would do with your magic wand?”
- asks a brilliant economist.
Great question! Most Indian women remain at home, dependent on patriarchal guardians, restricted by their mothers-in-law, with very few friends, or exposure to egalitarianism. Over a third have been beaten by their husbands. Escape is deterred by the stigmatisation of divorce. Victims are trapped - both economically and psychologically. Grooms may even terrorise their brides to extract larger dowries: beating their wife till she begs her parents to give more generously. Even if survivors summon the courage to report, they’re typically ignored by an overburdened police.
In the absence of job-creating economic growth, what can be done to improve women’s welfare?
My suggestion is not specific to India.
Tackle alcohol abuse
Worldwide, alcohol abuse is one of the largest predictors of gender-based violence.
Indian men’s alcohol consumption is the single strongest predictor of spousal violence. Regardless of wealth, education, employment or location, an Indian woman is much much more likely to be assaulted if her husband drinks. Indigenous Mexicans who drink every day are 13 times more likely beat their wives.
Alcohol consumption also worsens the severity of injuries.
When men drink, they are more likely to inflict life-threatening violence.
What about endogeneity?
Are mentally ill people more likely to become dependent on drugs?
Swendsen and colleagues followed over 5000 people with and without mental health disorders. Ten years later, they found that those with mental health disorders were much more likely to become dependent on alcohol, nicotine or illicit drugs. Someone with an intermittent explosive disorder is six times more likely to become dependent.
This is precisely what’s happened in both the US and Russia. Men lost jobs, became depressed, and turned to narcotics. Anne Case and Angus Deaton call this “Deaths of Despair”.
But demand is not the whole story. As everyone knows, the opioid epidemic is partly about supply. The same is true of alcohol (as shown by studies on bans and taxes).
Even if drug use is endogenous, it still has an independent effect on psychology. For six months, I lived in a Zambian shanty compound, next to a bar. They drank ‘tujilijili’ (very cheap, 40% alcohol). Late in the evenings, we used to hear neighbouring men return home and beat their wives.
The sequencing is pretty clear: alcohol worsens violence.
Alcohol abuse can be radically reduced
The average French person drinks less than a quarter as much wine today as they did 60 years ago. Lithuania has recently engineered a huge anti-alcohol campaign, including higher taxes. Within five years, Lithuanians per capita consumption fell by 2.8 litres. Russian alcohol consumption has fallen by 40% since its peak in 2003. Iceland reduced teenage drinking from 40% to 6%.
Alcohol abuse is reversible.
Drinking is lowest amongst Muslims
Drinking is considered haram (forbidden) in Islam. While many Muslims do drink, consumption is usually quite low.
Women in Muslim-majority developing countries are 11% LESS LIKELY to have been assaulted by their partner than those in Christian-majority countries.
This might reflect greater acceptance and lower reporting, but I don’t think so. The result holds while controlling for gender beliefs, education and decision-making.
Prohibitions reduce violence
Bans in South Africa
Domestic violence surged worldwide, during COVID lockdowns. South Africa is a notable exception. The Government banned alcohol. Kai Barron and colleagues find this reduced violence by about 20%. For every single week of the ban, there were 77 fewer homicides, 790 fewer assaults and 105 fewer rapes.
The ban significantly reduced violence against both women and men.
Bans in India
In Indian states that banned alcohol, men were less likely to drink and domestic violence was 50% lower. Overall, prohibition is associated with a reduction of 400 crimes against women per 10,000 people.
After Kerala banned sales of hard liquor, sexual assaults fell by at least 10%.
TLDR
Job-creating economic growth and democratisation are major engines of gender equality. But both are incredibly hard to achieve. Since 2006, routine jobs have shrunk. Labour-displacing automation threatens jobs in manufacturing. If demand falls, job queues will grow, and women will be at the back. Male unemployment may also trigger hostile sexism. Meanwhile, 64% of the world lives under authoritarianism, where feminist dissent is repressed.
In the absence of job-creation and democratisation, one feasible way to massively reduce violence is to tackle alcohol abuse. It is one of the single largest predictors of gender based violence worldwide, and it is not inevitable. Religious prohibitions, government bans and higher taxes can substantially reduce consumption.
At present, alcohol abuse is publicly tolerated. It is seldom seen as shameful. There is zero political condemnation. Yet there are campaigns about its downstream effects: intimate partner violence. Why not tackle the source?
Many addicts wish they were not dependent on alcohol. I’m curious to learn whether voluntary drugs like ozempic could help those who wish to give up the bottle.
Apologies for the recent dearth of posts, I’ve been doing research in Poland. It went superbly! I travelled to Krakow, Poznan and Warsaw, interviewed many people (four different nationalities) and radically improved my understanding. Stay tuned for upcoming posts on the legacy of totalitarian communism. Sharing some photos below. Best wishes to you all!
Isn't prohibition in the long run leading to black markets and increased gang activity? Isn't this why the whole war on drugs thing not really working? Wouldn't increased gang violence lead to more abuse of women? Although the anti addiction drug can significantly change the equation on the economics of prohibition.
I remember reading somewhere that Poland has a higher proportion of female stem graduates than the rest of Europe. If this is true do you think this is a product of indigenous polish culture or post soviet thing? Why is there more gender equality in female education if Poland is more conservative than other European countries?