Women's Alcoholic Intoxication: The Origins of the Double Standard in Canada

Abstract

This article hypothesizes that the gender division in the drinking practices of men and women finds its origin in the nineteenth century. Very few historians have studied Canadian drinking patterns prior to the Temperance movement, which commenced in Canada at the end of the the 1820s. Evidence of a possible double standard concerning female intoxication is virtually nonexistent. When temperance mobilized the masses and became a popular crusade, women of both Upper and Lower Canada joined the movement. In this period, as in the pre-temperance era, evidence was found of a double standard concerning female intoxication but the findings are not extremely clear. Women entered the forefront of the Temperance movement through the Woman's Christian Temperance Union. This membership believed that it was women's moral duty to protect the home against society's ills, and women were ultimately made responsible for male drunkenness. Furthermore, ideas about female purity precluded any sustained discussion of women's drinking. Abstention from alcohol thus became incorporated into the very definition of what was considered female.

Key Words:

• women
• alcohol
• temperance movement
• 19th century
• double standard
• Woman's Christian Temperance Union