FRUSTRATED AND WASTED HOUSEWIVES OF ZAMBIA

"The hard part about being a bartender is figuring out who is drunk and who is just stupid" _ Richard Braunstein

I did a Google search on the topic "Zambian women drink too much alcohol" and then another search "Zambian men drink too much alcohol". As you will see in the image below, the results were almost identical and they were all coming out strongly against Zambian women.

Many Zambian women do not accept the fact that they have earned themselves a reputation as heavy consumers of alcohol. It may be exaggerated but no one can disagree that there should be great concern on this topic.

Last week, the Zambian divas were in the headlines once again and as usual it was not for their choice of skimpy clothes, high heels or the Brazilian hair. It was about the careless or poor drinking habits.


Ngosa Malindi, the Ndola Young Men's Christian Association's acting General Secretary raised the issue of our women drinking too much beer. 

"Women are taking too much alcohol because they are frustrated in their homes. An African woman by nature is responsible, but if you find a woman drinking carelessly, it is because they are frustrated. These are frustrated women and when you go on the ground, you will find out that there are a lot of stories attached to these women that are drinking beer heavily." 

I agree with her on the fact that Zambian women drink a lot of beer than they normally should but I  do not entirely agree with the reason she gave. There could be some women who drink beer because they are frustrated but I don't think it is the main reason why many women drink like fish.

Before you think I am unfairly roasting women for their open gullets, I must hasten to say that Zambian men also drink a lot of beer. It is not like you can walk into a bar and find more women than men drinking alcohol. Actually, more men than women drink beer in Zambia. 

But why are our mothers, sisters, wives and girlfriends trending on this topic? Why are Zambian men not roasted for the same reason? Many of you will recall that this is not the first time that our women's drinking habits have come under the microscope. 

In June last year, urologist Dr. Manda came under fire by NGOCC board chairperson Beatrice Grillo who demanded an apology from him over the statement he made that some Zambian women had lost their cultural values because of their heavy and careless drinking habits.

Dr. Manda refused to apologise. "I won't apologise because what I said about careless drinking among some Zambian women is true and some international research has proven it." Note that he has used the words "careless drinking". To me that seems like the main problem why women in Zambia are perceived as hard drinkers. 

Frustration is not only confined to Zambian women. Zambian men also go through the same frustrations. After all they all come from the same homes. Other women from all over the world have their own frustrations too. Frustrations have and will always be there. If the only way one could efficiently deal with frustrations was by drinking heavily, the whole world would have become a bar long time ago.

Early last year the Washington Post  wrote "No nation has harder-drinking women than Zambia, where 41 percent binge drink at least once a week". This was based on   World Health Organisation Report.

As expected Zambian women angrily disputed this report while a lot of men agreed. What I noticed was that many women were quick to get angry without understanding what binge drinking meant. Binge drinking is drinking alcohol to the point of getting drunk. It is also defined as having 5 or more drinks in a row for men. For women, it's 4 or more drinks in a row.

I know that getting drunk is the main goal for drinking and the above quantities of beer (5 for men and 4 for women) is usually too little for many by Zambians especially during weekends. Drinking 5 or more drinks on the same occasion on each of 5 or more days in the past 30 days is normally considered heavy drinking.

Many Zambian women drink more than 4 beers whenever they go out fro a drink so the World Health Organisation was right when it said they binge drink. After drinking too much beer frequently, these women have become addicted to alcohol. One of the dangers of addiction is Alcohol poisoning  which has life threatening consequences. The World Health Organisation was not trying to demean our women but they were just concerned for their health. 

I drink beer and I can therefore not condemn anyone who drinks beer. I can only condemn that person if their drinking habit is careless. Some women think that when men say women should not drink too much beer, they are just being selfish and trying to have all the fun alone.

The truth is women feel the effects of alcohol faster than men. Women's bodies have a higher ratio of fat to water. They reach a higher blood alcohol concentration after a single drink than men, even when they are matched for weight and size.

A study which was published in The New England Journal of Medicine in 1990 found that in women, levels of gastric alcohol dehydrogenase, a compound that breaks down alcohol, are on average nearly half what they are in men. It also found that the amount of alcohol metabolised after its first passage through a woman's liver and stomach is 23 percent of what it is in men.

If there are six of us sitting at the table, each one of us is expected to buy a round for everyone and that means I will drink 5 beers before it is my turn to buy a round. If each one of us has to buy a second round, each person will drink 12 beers. 

Based on study published by The New England Journal of Medicine, the men will break down the alcohol faster than the women at that table and that will leave the women looking totally wasted than the men. This could be one reason why smart women drink light beers or ciders because they know they cant keep up with the men.

Another reason why women drink a lot of beer in Zambia could be lack of occupation. If a person has something that occupies him most of the day, there will be less time left to drink beer. I have noticed that women who are engaged in meaningful businesses do not drink beer recklessly.

"There can't be good living where there is not good drinking." _ Benjamin Franklin

Photo courtesy of  mapichai freedigitalphotos.net