Govts often overlook the profound impact of men’s drinking on women and children

Globally, up to one in three women who live with a male partner report he is a heavy drinker. Evidence shows men's drinking increases the severity and fre-quency of violence towards women and harms to children. Yet worldwide, most policies to address gender violence still fail to consider the significant role alcohol plays.

Our new research, published last week, reviewed and analysed the evidence in three major international reviews about men's drinking. We wanted to un-derstand the range of impacts that men's heavy drinking has on women and children worldwide. We also examined whether alcohol policies and interven-tions specifically address these harms. Our study shows the impact on women and children is profound – but the harms are often understudied and over-looked. Here's what we found

Women carry the burden

We already knew that men's heavy drinking exacerbates physical violence, leads to more intimate partner violence experienced by women, and to more severe injuries. However, our new research reveals a much wider range of harms that occur to women when men drink heavily. Heavy drinking can in-clude binge drinking and alcohol dependence.

The psychological impact on women can be profound. We found men's heavy drinking can contribute to controlling behaviour and irrational sexual jealousy towards partners, sexual aggression and coercion, and emotional abuse that includes humiliating or insulting the partner. Women also reported alcohol-related harms that are not widely studied or understood. These included women experiencing social isolation and economic abuse, where household resources are diverted to the man's drinking.

Financial problems for the family can have serious flow-on effects. For exam-ple, buying alcohol may not leave enough money for essentials such as food and clothing. Money issues can trigger conflicts which then escalate into vio-lence towards women.

Men's alcohol use can also lead to missed work or unemployment. This can reduce the family income and put more pressure on women to work extra hours, often alongside existing caregiving duties. They may then be at risk of other harmful situations or exploitation, such as being forced into sex work – reported by some women in lower income countries.

Children become more unsafe

The impact of men's heavy drinking on children has been even less well stud-ied than its effect on women. Yet our research shows when men drink heavily, their children are more likely to experience neglect, poor mental health, dis-rupted schooling and family instability – all of which negatively affects their development.

Men who drink heavily often prioritise alcohol over their chil-dren's needs and this can create dysfunctional family environments. Their children are also more likely to become the targets of violence and witness vi-olence against others.

As a consequence of these sometimes unstable and unsafe family environ-ments, children may often feel less emotionally close to fathers who drink heavily. Evidence shows fathers who drink heavily are less involved in parent-ing. A gap in policy Alcohol research and policy, and general policies, seldom target the diverse impacts of men's drinking on women and children.

Our study highlights an uncomfortable reality: To prevent violence against women and children, we also need to focus on men's drinking – and the wider social and economic inequalities that contribute to harms to women and chil-dren. We need interventions that explicitly target the social norms around masculinity, including those that encourage and normalise heavy drinking and reward aggression.

(Authors are from La Trobe University)