Sri Lankan women who were elated at the lifting of the ban that prohibited liquor sales to females now see the decision reversed and have to look to a male to buy them a drink 

When can Sri Lanka introduce a policy and stick with it? The recent reversing of the decision taken by the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) to allow certain liberties to women in their dealings with alcohol has stirred a hornet’s nest. On one side it questions the decision making ability of the Government which can be best described as someone who does things and later thinks about the repercussions. 

On the other hand the president gives the picture that he came to know of these historic decisions taken by the GoSL only through what he read in the newspapers. It’s natural that the president was angered by this decision regarding women and liquor sales because he initiates an anti-alcohol campaign.   

The association between women and alcohol has not only existed for many centuries. Latest research reveals that women are ‘closing the gap’ with men in both recreational consumption and in the number and rate of problems associated with drinking.   

Seeking social status 
The fact is that more and more women are taking to alcohol for social status rather than as a stress buster. Writer Kristi Coultier writes that the idea of a modern urban women means to be a serious drinker. Recently I attended a party in Kandana. Three women at the same table I sat at ordered hard liquor, but only one was able to finish the contents in the glass. This seems to be the trend in Colombo and in most areas which are known to attract tourists. In fact the GoSL lifted the ban which prevented women from purchasing alcohol to create gender equality and most importantly promote tourism.   

There is a cross section of the society which thinks that its okay for women to drink, given their ability to endure anything. Women unlike men have more control over their emotions and senses.

It is known that most Sri Lankans are influenced by public perception in their decision making and don’t really follow what their inner-selves tell them. The other factors that greatly influence them or bound them are Buddhist norms. But within a good number of women there is this need to down a few shots of liquor, but they are held back by what others think of them.   

Some women were experiencing a volcano within which was the need to have a drink. This need could have bubbled to the surface with the initial lifting of the ban. But it all turned into an anticlimax when the GoSl reversed its decision. It’s important to know how women will take the reversing of this decision. Many believe that women have been taken for granted and they will just grin and bear this disappointment too. But some say that the time to think seriously is when a battered or disappointed woman is silent. What would most women who welcomed the lifting of the ban do now?   

More control over their senses 
There is a cross section of the society which thinks that its okay for women to drink, given their ability to endure anything. Women unlike men have more control over their emotions and senses. The Sri Lanka culture has been such that it has always underestimated the status, ability and needs of women for centuries.   

World Health Organization (WHO) records showed that 80.5 % of women never drank compared to 56.9 % of men who never touched alcohol. The increase in the consumption of alcohol by women dates back to World War 11. It’s said that this was due to women having to play roles that were usually designed for men.   

But the health sector warns that women can develop liver damage and other alcohol related health problems quicker than men, even if they drink a lot less than males.   

Official guidelines in the UK for drinking specify that the adult should not consume more than 14 units of alcohol per week. WHO defines ‘drinking heavy’ when an adult consumes more than 5.7 units of alcohol during a single occasion.    When one probes the alcohol records in Sri Lanka and takes women as a whole, we haven’t reached a ‘Public Health Crisis’ like in the US. Sri Lanka being unable to retain the lifting of the ban on liquor sales to women seems to have come as a blessing in disguise. The law passed in 1955 which specifies the rules regarding the sale of liquor to women still stands, as of now.   

The women who want to drink can get their men to buy them a bottle, a pint or dram of their favourite liquor. The problem was created because someone in the GoSL wanted to make a questionable habit like females consuming liquor very official. The relationship that men and women have with alcohol will continue till drinking becomes meaningless. Dropping the ‘bottle’ must come with understanding that these pleasures are temporary, not because a battered liver screams at you to stop!