Monday, March 25, 2013

Women and Alcohol in Sri Lanka – unsurprising surge in abuse!



Recent reports have reinforced in stark reality, the alcohol consumption patterns of Sri Lankans, and it puts it on the top of world rankings despite SL being merely a middle income nation, and technically a poor one. Male addiction is most pervasive. There is an impression that President’s objective of the “mathata tithe” fullstop to alcohol promise has proved he is nothing more than a bogus Charlatan and made this more of a gimmick to gain plaudits. Hipocracy is the result.

Hot on the heals of this debate came the write up about the modern woman and her move to also imbibe in the strong stuff see link below:


Of course this does not mention the other very real problem of Estate women turning to alcohol to numb their senses due to the hard life they have to bear with harsh working conditions, abusive husbands, and cheek by jowl living with neighbors sharing toilet facilities and not having sufficient privacy.

Just on the subject of Alcohol, it is a hugely revenue earning business not only for the Government but also for the producers. Whilst there is little progress in weaning people off of it, much has to be done to prevent a new generation and in this case young girls getting into it as a sign of coming out and independence.

I believe it goes back to the type of upbringing our youth have in Sri Lanka, with parenting becoming almost absent, contrary to popular belief that we have tighter and more caring family structures than in Western Nations. It also has to do with the huge social upheavals taking place, and the move of young women to boarding houses to find work, and where they get caught into a trap of vice in prostitution, and then the Country not having the services to get them to reverse the process.

Young girls not engaging their parents in their lives, and being unable to confront them in a civil way to solve the problem, knowing that if they admit to these excesses they face eviction from home, means our society does not understand reality, cannot cope and confront the issues before which a suitable solution can be individually tailor made. A woman gone bad in our society is an irreparable sin, with her destined to a life of an outcast. It must be shown to be reversible!

I know I have strayed from the original point, but one can see how it is the root of much that is wrong in society today, and requires immediate steps at prevention.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

alcohol is a problem and so the solution is?? more free markets?