Solutions For Women’s Health and Rights

Evidence-based tool boxes to promote women’s health and rights

In both the human rights and the global health tool boxes, there are concrete, powerful policy measures available for governments to protect women and girls from the harm caused by alcohol companies and to promote women’s health and rights.

Global health tools: Alcohol policy solutions

Evidence-based alcohol policy reform significantly advances women’s health and rights by addressing the multifaceted impact of alcohol on women’s lives. Effective alcohol policies, as outlined in the WHO SAFER alcohol policy blue print and the WHO Global Alcohol Action Plan from 2022, such as reducing the availability and marketing of alcohol, raising alcohol taxes, reduces population-level alcohol consumption, harms, and costs. This includes a reduction of alcohol-related violence and improved physical and mental health of women.

1 Raising Alcohol Taxes

Raising alcohol taxes is one of the most effective public health and social justice interventions for protecting people and communities from alcohol harm. It has significant benefits for women’s health, safety, economic well-being, and human rights by decreasing overall consumption, preventing alcohol-related diseases, and reducing gender-based violence. 

1.1 Preventing and Reducing Alcohol-Related Diseases in Women

Women are more vulnerable to alcohol-related health harms than men due to biological differences in alcohol metabolism. Increased alcohol taxes lead to higher prices, which reduce alcohol consumption and lower the incidence of alcohol-related illnesses.

1.1.1 Decreased Risk of Alcohol-Related Cancers

• Already low levels of alcohol consumption increase the risk of breast cancer, liver cancer, ovarian cancer, and other cancers in women.
• A 2022 study found that alcohol tax increases reduce cancer incidence (WHO, 2022).

1.1.2 Lower Rates of Liver Disease and Cardiovascular Problems

• Women develop liver cirrhosis faster than men at lower alcohol doses.
• Alcohol consumption is linked to hypertension, which disproportionately affects middle-aged women.
• Increased alcohol prices reduce overall consumption, leading to better long-term health outcomes.

1.1.3 Protecting Reproductive and Maternal Health

• Alcohol consumption during pregnancy is a leading cause of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD) in infants.
• Higher alcohol taxes prevent and reduce alcohol use in pregnant women, protecting child development. 

A study published in 2023 found that the 2004 alcohol tax cut in Finland resulted in a 33% mean reduction of off-premise alcohol prices in Finland.
These lowered alcohol prices in Finland are linked with a short-term increase in adverse birth outcomes among low-income mothers and an overall increase in abortions.

1.2. Preventing and Reducing Alcohol-Fueled Gender-Based Violence (GBV)

One of the most devastating second-hand harms from men’s alcohol consumption is violence against women. Studies consistently show that raising alcohol prices through taxation significantly reduces intimate partner violence, sexual assault, and domestic abuse.

1.2.1 Alcohol and Domestic Violence

1.2.2 Alcohol and Sexual Violence

• Alcohol use is involved in up to 50% of sexual assaults worldwide. 
• Increasing alcohol taxes reduces heavy episodic alcohol use, a key risk factor for alcohol-facilitated sexual violence.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) notes that higher alcohol prices are associated with reductions in violence, including sexual assault and intimate partner violence. 

Scientific evidence from Europe and the United States shows women who use alcohol may be slightly more responsive to price changes than men. 

There is also consistent evidence that higher alcohol prices indirectly reduce rape, child abuse perpetrated by women, sexual assault, and unwanted pregnancies.

Two studies from the United States found that a 1% modelled increase in the price of alcohol was linked with a reduction of 3.1 – 3.5% in self-reported wife-abuse (WHO, 2014; Durrance, 2011).

1.3. Economic Empowerment and Financial Protection for Women

Women bear a disproportionate economic burden from alcohol harm. Higher alcohol taxes improve economic stability for women by reducing financial losses related to alcohol harm.

1.3.1 Reducing Household Financial Strain

• Alcohol use diverts household income from essential needs like food, healthcare, and education.
• Higher alcohol taxes reduce spending on alcohol, particularly in low-income households where women often bear the economic consequences.

1.3.2 Reducing the Financial Cost of Alcohol-Related Health Issues

• Women often shoulder the burden of caregiving for family members suffering from alcohol-related illnesses.
• A reduction in alcohol consumption lowers healthcare costs and improves financial security for women and families.

1.3.3 Generating Public Revenue for Women’s Health Services

• Increased alcohol taxes generate billions in public health revenue, which can be reinvested into women’s health programs, domestic violence shelters, and reproductive healthcare.

1.4. Advancing Women’s Rights Through Public Policy

Alcohol harm is a feminist and gender equality issue, and tax policies that reduce alcohol-related harm are aligned with women’s rights frameworks.

1.4.1 Aligning Alcohol Taxes with the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW)

• CEDAW obligates governments to protect women from health risks, violence, and economic exploitation—all of which are linked to alcohol use.
• Higher alcohol taxes are a policy tool that directly addresses women’s health and safety.

1.4.2 Supporting Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Raising alcohol taxes directly contributes to several United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs):

• SDG 3 (Good Health & Well-Being) – Reducing alcohol-related deaths and diseases.
• SDG 5 (Gender Equality) – Addressing alcohol’s role in GBV and women’s economic instability.
• SDG 10 (Reduced Inequalities) – Protecting marginalized women from disproportionate alcohol harm.

1.4.3 Reducing Alcohol Industry Influence on Women’s Health

• The alcohol industry aggressively targets women through marketing campaigns that portray alcohol consumption as empowering and glamorous.
• Higher alcohol taxes counteract industry influence by making alcohol less accessible and less socially normalized.

2 Limiting Alcohol Availability

Placing common sense limits on the availability of alcohol is one of the most effective public health strategies to prevent and reduce alcohol harm, protect women’s rights, and promote gender equality. Alcohol availability influences consumption patterns, and policies that limit availabilit – such as reducing sales hours, lowering alcohol outlet density, and enforcing legal purchasing age – have proven benefits for women’s health, safety, and economic well-being.

Greater availability of alcohol outlets leads to decreasing alcohol prices and growing advertising opportunities. And cheaper prices and more exposure to alcohol ads lead to rising alcohol use and harm. Increased visibility of alcohol consumption in public spaces leads to the normalization and acceptance of alcohol use and related harms (WHO, 2014).

Research on the gendered effects of increased alcohol availability is limited. But a recent update has shown that earlier bar closing times in Brazil significantly reduced homicides and assaults against women. 

According to research published in The Lancet Regional Health Southeast Asia journal in 2024, the Bihar alcohol ban of 2016 significantly reduced alcohol consumption and associated harms. The ban prevented 2.4 million cases of daily and weekly alcohol consumption and 2.1 million cases of intimate partner violence.

There is substantial evidence of alcohol’s role as a consistent risk factor in violence within the family and intimate relationships, and that it increases the severity of intimate partner violence (IPV). Accordingly, the WHO identified reducing alcohol-related harm as a factor in reaching other Sustainable Development Goals, such as ending discrimination against women and girls (SDG 5–1).

Policies that limit alcohol availability have been shown to reduce incidents of violence against women.

2.1 Lower Rates of Intimate Partner Violence (IPV)

2.1.2 Fewer Cases of Alcohol-Facilitated Sexual Assault

• Alcohol use is involved in up to 50% of sexual assaults worldwide.
• Reducing alcohol outlet density and banning alcohol sales in nightlife districts significantly decreases alcohol-related sexual violence.

2.1.3 Creating Safer Public Spaces for Women and girls

Women disproportionately bear the economic and social consequences of alcohol harm, for example when their own physical and mental health is harmed, through avoidable household expenses on alcohol that crowd-out healthier spending, or through caregiving burdens.

2.2.1 Reducing Financial Strain in Low-Income Households

Alcohol use often diverts household income away from essential needs like food, healthcare, and education. For example World Bank data showed that:

• Romanians spent an average of 11% of family income on alcohol,
• Zimbabwean households averaged 7%. 
• However, national averages conceal the impact on families of heavy alcohol consuming males: families with frequently alcohol consuming husbands in Delhi spent 24% of family income on alcohol, compared to 2% in other families. 
• Surveys among the urban poor in Sri Lanka found that 30% of families used alcohol and spent more than 30% of their income on it.

Limiting alcohol sales, particularly in low-income communities, leads to higher savings and better economic stability for women.

Women, often responsible for managing household resources, experience economic strain due to substantial spending on alcohol. Reducing alcohol use and harm alleviates this financial burden, leading to increased savings and improved economic stability for women and their families. 

2.2.2 Lower Healthcare Costs for Women

• Alcohol-related health issues, including mental health disorders, liver disease, and cancer, increase healthcare expenses.
• Alcohol availability reductions lead to fewer emergency room visits and hospitalizations, reducing the financial burden on women and public health systems.

2.3 Promoting Gender Equality and Women’s Rights 

Alcohol harm is a women’s rights issue because it disproportionately affects women’s health, safety, and economic opportunities.

2.3.1 Aligning with the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW)

• CEDAW mandates that governments protect women from violence, discrimination, and health risks.
• Limiting alcohol availability is a policy tool to fulfill CEDAW commitments by reducing alcohol-related harm to women.

2.3.2 Supporting the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Limiting alcohol availability aligns with several UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs):

• SDG 3 (Good Health & Well-Being): Reducing alcohol-related diseases in women.
• SDG 5 (Gender Equality): Preventing alcohol-fueled violence against women.
• SDG 10 (Reduced Inequalities): Protecting vulnerable women from the disproportionate harm caused by alcohol.

2.3.3 Reducing the Influence of the Alcohol Industry on Women

• The alcohol industry aggressively markets to women, portraying alcohol consumption as empowering while hiding its risks.
• Regulation of the alcohol industry, through reducing the availability of alcohol protect women and girls from alcohol industry influence by preventing the alcoholization of all environments.

Protecting women and girls from alcohol marketing

Alcohol marketing often co-opts feminist messages of empowerment to sell alcohol products. A ban of alcohol advertising, sponsorship, and promotion – as recommended by the WHO Global Alcohol Action Plan – would help redirect focus towards genuine empowerment initiatives that support women’s rights and well-being.

Banning alcohol ads helps shift social norms towards healthier environments and behaviour. Reducing the glamorization of alcohol in the media can empower women to assert their independence from commercial determinants and health-harming corporate pressures.

In 2024, a landmark scientific article called for health promotion action to regulate alcohol product marketing targeting women and create environments where it is possible to mitigate the harms of alcohol and protect women’s health. Drawing on the Global Alcohol Action Plan in the context of the Australian National Women’s Health Strategy 2020–30, the researchers considered critical actions for gender-responsive health promotion to protect women from the ways alcohol companies market their products utilizing women’s gendered social roles and entrenched stereotypes. 

They show how these subtle yet powerful gendered approaches to alcohol marketing have the potential for harm yet are not covered by the current mechanisms of the self-regulated Alcohol Beverages Advertising Code in Australia.

The researchers draw on the World Health Organization’s 2024 Framework on Gender-Responsive Approaches to the Acceptability Availability and Affordability of Alcohol and make a call to regulate alcohol marketing targeting women.

Reducing Alcohol Industry Influence on Women’s Health

• The alcohol industry aggressively targets women through marketing campaigns that portray alcohol consumption as empowering and glamorous.
• Banning alcohol advertising, sponsorship, and promotions counteracts alcohol industry influence by removing a key tool for alcohol companies to make their products attractive, affordable, and appear to be socially normalized.

Without constant exposure to persuasive alcohol advertisements, women may be less likely to develop high-risk alcohol use. Young women, who are particularly susceptible to advertising through social media and other digital platforms, would be less influenced to start using alcohol or use it in high doses.

Digital marketing has significantly expanded the reach and impact of alcohol advertising, with highly gendered messages integrated into everyday activities and events. A systematic review indicates that digital alcohol marketing is linked with increased alcohol consumption and binge alcohol use (Noel 2020). 

Case study from South Africa: Commission for Gender Equality Recommends Higher Alcohol Taxes and Other Alcohol Policy Improvements

In 2020, the Commission for Gender Equality (CGE) of South Africa has recommended to the government to improve alcohol policies towards reduced gender-based violence which is fueled by alcohol. 

The commission specifically recommended to implement a minimum unit price (MUP), and increase alcohol taxes to better prevent alcohol’s harm to others.

Key recommendations of the commission include:

• Minimum unit pricing – Introducing a floor price on the sale of alcohol to eliminate ultra-cheap alcohol and aggressive price promotions of the alcohol industry to convert people to alcohol users.
• Alcohol excise taxation – Increasing the excise tax on the price of alcohol; studies have indicated how a 10% increase in the price of alcohol could lead to a 4.4% fall in consumption and related harm.
• Additional tax – A similar meta-analysis of the impact of improving the alcohol tax showed that a doubling of tax led to a 35% reduction in alcohol-related mortality.
• Better law enforcement – The commission said that government in general and law enforcement agencies, in particular, should improve the stringency of law enforcement of current legislation dealing with alcohol, including the withdrawal of licenses from liquor traders that do not comply with regulations.

Human Rights tools: CEDAW

The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) provides a comprehensive international framework for protecting women’s rights, including protections from alcohol harm. While CEDAW does not explicitly address alcohol use, its provisions can be interpreted to support measures that mitigate the impact of alcohol harm on women’s lives. 

This is an analysis of how CEDAW contributes to protecting women from alcohol harm:

General CEDAW Provisions

Article 2 – Policy Measures

CEDAW mandates that state parties condemn discrimination against women in all its forms and agree to pursue policies to eliminate it. This includes adopting legislative and other measures to prevent discrimination. 

By interpreting alcohol harm as a form of discrimination that disproportionately affects women, states can implement policies aimed at reducing population-level alcohol consumption and its associated harms.

Article 3 – Guarantee of Basic Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms

This article emphasizes ensuring the full development and advancement of women to guarantee them the exercise and enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms. 

Addressing alcohol harm aligns with this goal by ensuring women can live healthy, violence-free lives.

Specific CEDAW Provisions

Article 5 – Sex Roles and Stereotyping

CEDAW urges states to take measures to modify the social and cultural patterns of conduct of men and women, with a view to eliminating prejudices and practices based on the idea of the inferiority or superiority of either sex. 

This includes combating the harmful stereotypes perpetuated by alcohol marketing that objectify, dehumanize, and sexualize women and promote high-risk behaviours.

Article 6 – Trafficking and Exploitation

This article calls for measures to suppress all forms of traffic in women and exploitation of prostitution. 

Since alcohol consumption is often linked to increased vulnerability to trafficking and exploitation, policies to prevent and reduce alcohol harm can also contribute to fulfilling this provision. 

Moreover, alcohol companies use so called “beer girls” to promote their products in bars. This promotion is sometimes connected to the unspoken expectation to provide sexual services for the customers in order to keep them loyal to the brand (NL Times 2018). 

Banning on alcohol advertising, sponsorship, and promotion would eliminate this type of practices.

Article 10 – Education

CEDAW promotes the right to education for women and girls. However, this right is often violated when girls are unable to attend school due to financial constraints, such as family funds being spent on alcohol, or because they must care for family members suffering harm from alcohol. 

This article can be as well applied when demanding the states to provide information about alcohol harm and its root causes.

Article 12 – Health

States are required to eliminate discrimination against women in healthcare and ensure access to healthcare services, including those related to family planning. Addressing alcohol-related health issues, providing treatment for alcohol use disorder, and ensuring healthcare systems are equipped to handle alcohol-related health problems are all measures that align with this article.

Article 16 – Marriage and Family Life

This article emphasizes equal rights in marriage and family relations. 

Reducing alcohol-related harm can lead to healthier family environments, preventing and reducing domestic violence and improving overall family well-being.

General CEDAW Recommendations

CEDAW’s General Recommendations also provide specific guidance that supports the protection of women from alcohol harm:

General Recommendation No. 19 – Violence against Women

This recommendation recognizes that gender-based violence is a form of discrimination that seriously inhibits women’s ability to enjoy rights and freedoms on an equal basis with men. 

Addressing alcohol consumption as a factor that fuels and exacerbates violence against women can be part of the broader strategy to eradicate gender-based violence.

General Recommendation No. 24 – Women and Health

This recommendation stresses the importance of access to health care and the elimination of discrimination in the health sector. It calls for states to ensure that health services are sensitive to gender differences and address the specific health needs of women, which would also include those related to alcohol consumption and its health impacts, including addressing the role of alcohol in breast cancer as well as providing screening, brief interventions, and treatment for women with alcohol use disorder and addiction.

General Recommendation No. 35 – Tackling violence against women

This recommendatoin provides a comprehensive framework for addressing gender-based violence against women. Adopted in 2017, it updates recommendation 19 by emphasizing that such violence is a form of discrimination and a violation of human rights. 

The recommendation identifies root causes such as harmful social norms, and calls for a holistic approach to prevention including legal, educational, and social measures. It stresses obligations to address violence by both state and non-state actors, advocating for legal reforms that eliminate laws facilitating violence, where laws based on effective alcohol policy solutions would play an important role.

CEDAW provides a robust framework for implementation of alcohol policy and protecting women from alcohol harm by promoting policies and measures that address discrimination, health, education, and violence against women. By interpreting and applying its provisions, states can implement comprehensive strategies to reduce the impact of alcohol on women’s lives, thereby advancing their overall well-being and rights.