What Can Alcohol Reduction ‘Do’ for/in Midlife Women's Hopes? A Qualitative Study in Australia

The proportion of midlife Australian women (45-64 years) whose alcohol consumption is defined as 'long-term risky drinking' increased between 2001 and 2019, with serious health, economic and social impacts. Although overall population consumption trends towards a decline, consumption for this population remains stable, suggesting that current alcohol reduction policies and strategies are ineffective for this population. In this paper, we employ sociological theory on hope to argue for developing alcohol policies that are structured to enable women's hopes for a future that includes alcohol reduction. Drawing on humanistic and positive sociology that is concerned with future-focused enquiries, we undertook semi-structured interviews with 26 midlife women, exploring 'if' they could reduce their drinking, then what hopes might be enabled through alcohol reduction. Women talked about imagined alcohol-reduced futures as enabling hopes for control, responsibility, stability and health in their lives, to support them to care for others and be 'normal'. Quixotic hopes around excitement, freedom and having a 'good life' were expressed to a lesser extent than expected. Our study and findings are analysed in relation to sociological and (post-structural) feminist theories of oppression and political transformation, with implications for alcohol policy scaffolded by engagement with Freire's pedagogy of hope.