Women in AA William White from chapter of Slaying the Dragon

Women in A.A., Then and Now (from Slaying the Dragon)
by William L. White click here other page White's Book Slaying the Dragon

Editor's Note: When Alcoholics Anonymous was founded in 1935, many people believed that
women couldn't be alcoholics, much less that they deserved a place at the A.A. table.
Although we now take for granted that the doors of A.A. are open to any alcoholic male or
female this was not always the case. In Slaying the Dragon: The History of Addiction
Treatment and Recovery in America, William L. White describes the challenges faced by
women seeking recovery in the early years of A.A. The following excerpts from White's book
highlight the struggles and contributions of these female pioneers.

The first women in A.A.

The wives of early A.A. members--particularly Anne Smith and Lois
Wilson--participated in and made immense contributions to this developing community.

Anne's support and counsel to many of the early alcoholics is legendary. The seeds of
many key ideas that emerged within A.A. began in the pages of her journal and in her
conversations with early members. Both co-founders noted the role that wives played in
the founding of A.A., Dr. Bob even suggesting that there would have been no A.A. without
these women.

Following close on the heels of the wives of early A.A. members were the first alcoholic
women seeking assistance from A.A.: an unnamed Indian waitress; Sylvia K., the
"glamorous divorcee"; Jane, the wife of a wealthy industrialist; Lelia M., the heiress;
Ruth T. of Toledo; Ethel M. and Kaye M., who came into the program with their husbands;
and Nona W.

There was also Florence R., whose story appeared in the first edition of the Big Book, and
who objected to one of the book's proposed titles, "One Hundred Men." She later
returned to drinking and died of alcoholism.

Lil, the very first woman to seek help from A.A., got loaded with Victor, another early
prospect, pioneering what would come to be christened "thirteenth stepping" (sexual or
romantic involvement with someone whose sobriety is relatively new and therefore
potentially unstable). Lil, like many of the women who contacted A.A. in the early years,
did not get sober during this period.

Marty M., who entered A.A. in New York in 1939 and went on to become the first woman
to achieve enduring sobriety within A.A., noted that many of these women failed to get
sober not because they were so much sicker, but simply because they were women.

Resistance to female membership

Many early A.A. members did not believe women could be alcoholics. Some were not
quite sure how women could fit into this fellowship, while others stated openly that A.A.
would not work for women. Some in the latter group prophesied that the inclusion of
women could threaten A.A.'s future. Some women entering A.A. were given rude
treatment. The first alcoholic woman involved in the Cleveland group was "thrown out of
A.A. by the wives."

The primary fear regarding the involvement of women in A.A. was of the potential
disruptiveness of the sexual dynamic that might emerge within the groups. [This fear]
imbedded itself within early A.A. folk sayings such as, "Under every skirt is a slip."

To manage this potential disruption during A.A.'s early years, women and men sat on
different sides of meeting rooms, and the first women were often sponsored not by A.A.
members but by their wives. As more single and divorced women entered A.A., friction
between these women and the wives of A.A. men increased. This led to the creation of
"closed meetings," attended only by alcoholics, in addition to "open meetings," which
were open to all.

Stigmas and stereotypes

Special problems facing women in A.A. were acknowledged as early as 1945, when a
Grapevine article noted the isolation of alcoholic women and their propensity to be
involved with pills as well as booze.

A Grapevine article the following year--in spite of a disclaimer that it should not be read
as a blanket indictment of women--was filled with the kinds of stereotyping that women
were likely to encounter in the A.A. of this period. The article made the following eleven
points:

1) The percentage of women who stay in A.A. is low.
2) Many women form attachments too intense--bordering on the emotional.
3) So many women want to run things.
4) Too many women don't like women.
5) Women talk too much.
6) Women are a questionable help working with men and vice versa.
7) Sooner or later, a woman-on-the-make sallies into a group, on the prowl for phone
numbers and dates.
8) A lot of women are attention-demanders.
9) Few women can think in the abstract.
10) Women's feelings get hurt too often.
11) Far too many women A.A.'s cannot get along with the non-alcoholic wives of A.A.
members.

Women were often refused sponsorship by the male members and were viewed as
suspect due to their frequent concurrent addiction to "goofballs."

The special stigma that female alcoholics faced in the 1940s and '50s was reflected in
some sensationalist [media] treatment. Newspaper articles about women in A.A. bore
such titles as "Women Drunkards, Pitiful Creatures, Get Helping Hand." Perhaps most
outlandish was a 1954 on A.A. in Confidential Magazine entitled, "No Booze But Plenty
of Babes."

Jack Alexander's 1950 article on A.A. in the Saturday Evening Post noted: "More than
one group has been thrown into a maelstrom of gossip and disorder by a determined lady
whose alcoholism was complicated by an aggressive romantic interest."

This [negative] public image of the female drinker no doubt kept many alcoholic women
from seeking help and led to such other unusual events as Sunday drivers in Minnesota
passing Dia Linn (Hazelden's treatment unit for women) in hopes of seeing "wild woman
drinkers."

Enduring contributions

Female pioneers "toughed it out" and made things easier for the women who followed
them. Women's groups within A.A. began springing up during the early 1940s in
Cleveland and other A.A. strongholds. There, female A.A. members were free to talk
about many issues (sexual abuse, intimate relationships, family problems, menstruation,
abortion, menopause) that they would not have been comfortable addressing in
mixed-gender meetings.

Women were the dominant force behind the A.A. Grapevine and did all of the early work of
the General Service Office, as they continue to conduct much of that activity today.

The percentage of women within the total membership of Alcoholics Anonymous has
risen steadily since its founding. In 1955, A.A. reported that 15% of its members were
women; by 1968 that percentage had risen to 22%; and in the 1996 survey, women
constituted 33% of members.

From Slaying the Dragon: The History of Addiction Treatment and Recovery in America
by William L. White (Chestnut Health Systems, 1998). Used by kind permission of the
author.