international womens day Archives | Hello Sunday Morning

March 8th is International Women’s Day, a day to salute the trailblazers and everyday heroes who bring about change in our community.

We’re taking a moment to applaud and support every woman who has tackled personal or public challenges with alcohol. Committing to creating a healthy lifestyle for yourself, and your family is so worth celebrating. Wherever you are on your journey from being sober curious, reassessing alcohol in your life, or choosing to abstain, we’re constantly inspired by you and your commitment to make changes.

Hello Sunday Morning also sends our admiration out to women across Australia advocating for and contributing to the conversation around alcohol consumption.

We’d like you to meet these five women who inspire us through advocacy for healthier relationships with alcohol:

Dr Nicole Lee

Specialist alcohol and drug consultant, Adjunct Professor and Hello Sunday Morning Clinical Governance Board member

Nicole is the founder and CEO of 360Edge, a specialist alcohol and other-drug consultancy, and Adjunct Professor at the National Drug Research Institute Curtin University. She also chairs the Clinical Governance Board Committee of Hello Sunday Morning.

Nicole is a member of the Australian National Council on Alcohol and other Drugs, Australia’s key expert advisory council to the Australian Government on drugs, and the board of the Australian drug checking service, The Loop Australia. She’s internationally known for her impactful 30 years of expertise in research, design and implementation of alcohol and other drug policy and practice responses.

Not only that, Nicole’s also a consultant psychologist and Fellow of the Australian Association for Cognitive and Behaviour Therapy, contributing to research that informs decision making.

Jill Stark

Author, mental health advocate and public commentator on anxiety and quitting drinking

Jill Stark’s hard-won lessons from a life-long struggle with anxiety offer hope and connection to anyone doing it tough. Jill’s book ‘When You’re Not OK‘ and her blog documents her pathways from worrier to warrior, highlighting the realities and victories she experienced in giving up alcohol and encouraging others to do so. You can read Jill’s story here.

Shanna Whan

CEO and founder, Sober in the Country

Countless people in regional areas have been encouraged to take a look at their relationship with alcohol thanks to the efforts of Shanna Whan, Australian of the Year Local Hero for 2022. After struggling with alcohol addiction, Shanna founded grassroots charity, Sober in the Country to help others on a similar path.

Yumi Stynes

Podcast host, author, TV and radio presenter

Yumi Stynes is an Australian television and radio presenter, podcaster and author living in Sydney. She is the co-host of KIIS FM’s 3PM Pick-Up radio show and presenter of the ABC Radio podcast Ladies, We Need to Talk about female health and sexuality. Yumi regularly shares her story about her changing relationship with alcohol.

Dominique Robert-Hendren

Dominique Robert-Hendren is a leader in mental health strategy and innovation. With her background as the National Mental Health Programs and Services Director for Australia’s largest private health care organisation, Dominique was pivotal in leading innovative models of care, establishing digital telehealth services and award winning mental health programs.

In recent times she has been a respected member of the COVID-19 Response and Restart Team, overseeing Employee Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategic Framework for Frontline Workers and Executive Leaders.

In her role as a Mental Health Executive for Hello Sunday Morning, Dominique heads the digital health innovation strategy, research and new models of care. She is also Chief Clinical Psychologist and a psychology board-approved supervisor. Dominique’s expertise has been instrumental in producing vital evidence-based resources for the community at large like:

My sober toolbox

Mental Health Month
Calendar of Care

Coping with Pandemic Fatigue

Australian women, everywhere, inspiring change

Women like Lucy Bloom (Author and motivational speaker), Andy Quin (co-founder of ETCH Sparkling), and Kerrie Atherton have given other’s courage to make changes as well.

Every week on our social media we share a Hero of the Week.

Many are women who have made the decision to change their relationship with alcohol, and graciously share their struggles and wins along the way. Through Hero of the Week stories, others can discover what they stand to gain through reassessing, reducing, or quitting drinking.

Check out more stories here and don’t forget to share a message of support to a woman you admire this week too!

Let’s hear it for the girls and the collective social, economic, cultural, health and political achievements that women have made possible across the world.

This Friday, 8th March, is International Women’s day – a time to celebrate how far women have come and reflect on how far they still have to go, in terms of gender equality. While politics, policies and parenting may take the spotlight, there’s one area where women may not be able to make considerable progress – alcohol. The effects of alcohol can generally be more pronounced in women, and women have unique considerations in terms of fertility and health. Here are five things women should know about alcohol, and some tips for healthier outcomes.

1. Women can generally be more easily affected by alcohol than men

Women generally have more fat and less muscle in their body composition than men. Alcohol tends to distribute itself mostly in tissues rich in water like muscle, instead of those rich in fat. In a way, the fat acts like tetris blocks where the alcohol doesn’t distribute, thus making it more concentrated within the rest of the body. Similarly, women are generally smaller in stature than men, meaning less space for alcohol to concentrate in. Both of these factors can lead to higher Blood Alcohol Concentrations (BAC) for women when they drink the same amount as similarly sized men.

Tip: Women shouldn’t feel pressured to keep up drink-for-drink with men, nor participate in rounds, as the effects of alcohol can be more pronounced for them. Alternate water with each alcoholic drink and have a nutritious meal before drinking alcohol.

2. Women are drinking more now than in the past, with older women being more risky drinkers

Around one hundred years ago, the number of women who drank alcohol globally was approximately half that of men. The social acceptability and availability of alcohol has seen women catch up over the century to reach consumption rates almost on a par with men, effectively meaning almost double the alcohol consumption for women over this time period.

In Australia, among women, 13 per cent of those aged 50–59 are likely to be drinking at risky levels – defined as more than two standard drinks per day. This usurps the ‘stereotypical’ thinking that the younger nonchalant generation drink to excess. Women aged 40–49 are not far behind with a risky drinking rate of 12.5 per cent. Expectations of juggling parenting and careers, patterns of ingrained and automatic behaviour formed over time, and the emotional labour of running a household are all possible reasons for this increase.

Tip: If drinking has become a way to cope with the ‘mental load’ or the emotional labour of running a household that disproportionately falls to women, try reducing your expectations, delegating and ‘doing less’ instead.

3. Higher alcohol consumption is heavily linked to domestic violence

There is much evidence globally to suggest that domestic violence is linked to heavy alcohol use by men. This has huge implications on women – affecting relationships with their peers, future partners, as well as children. Although other factors such as socio-economic status can exacerbate this relationship, we know that alcohol is a huge driver in these situations.

In Australia, 36% of intimate partner homicide offenders were under the influence of alcohol at the time of the incident.

According to this WHO factsheet, a community intervention in an Australian town restricting the sale of alcohol saw a reduction in the cases of domestic violence presenting to hospital. There are also numerous cases around the world that saw a drop in domestic violence via strategies reducing alcohol in the community.

As domestic violence is typically a very complex matter, we suggest to reach out to 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732) if you’re at risk – which is a 24 hr national sexual assault, family or domestic violence line for any Australian who has experienced or at risk of any of these situations.

4. Alcohol may increase the risk of developing breast, ovarian and endometrial cancers

Alcohol use is a cause of cancer, the risk increasing in line with consumption for both genders. For women specifically, there is strong evidence to suggest that alcohol use increases the risk of breast cancer. For women whose alcohol consumption leads to weight gain and a high percentage of body fat, this in turn can increase the risk of cancers including the ovaries and endometrium. Women who drink excessively develop more medical problems than men.

Tip: For those who choose to drink alcohol, do so within the Australian guidelines to reduce health risks from drinking alcohol i.e. drinking no more than two standard drinks on any day reduces your risk of harm from alcohol-related disease or injury over a lifetime. Drinking no more than four standard drinks on a single occasion reduces the risk of alcohol-related injury arising from that occasion.

5. Alcohol can affect conception, fertility and the health of your baby

For pregnant women, drinking alcohol increases the risk of stillbirth, premature birth and low birth weight, miscarriage, birth defects and Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder, or FASD. FASD is a condition that is an outcome of parents either not being aware of the dangers of alcohol use when pregnant or planning a pregnancy, or not being supported to stay healthy and strong during pregnancy.

While alcohol does not directly affect the contraceptive pill, consumption of alcohol can lead to less compliance with contraception generally, due to forgetfulness, a change in regular routines or reduced inhibitions to use barrier methods, and therefore increases the risk of pregnancy.

Conversely, research shows that even drinking lightly can increase the time it takes to get pregnant; women who drink large amounts of alcohol are more likely to have heavy or irregular periods and fertility problems; and alcohol can also affect ovulation, which can make it difficult to conceive.

Tip: The National Health and Medical Research Council, Australia’s peak body on developing national health advice, recommends that for women who are pregnant, planning pregnancy or breastfeeding, not drinking alcohol is the safest option.

In what other ways do women have a unique relationship with alcohol?