On the afternoon of Tuesday, December 16, eight women gathered for the meeting at the Moreau de Tours center, one of the addiction care, support and prevention centers at the Sainte-Anne Hospital in Paris. The atmosphere was relaxed, even though their presence there was due to their relationship with alcohol – a subject that still remains largely taboo. The group included social workers, educators, managers, booksellers – all mothers with higher education degrees. Ranging from age 35 to 65, they attend this Women and Alcohol support group led by a care team: nurse Rachida Messen and psychologist Elsa Taschini, who launched the project in 2009 as part of France’s first clinic service specializing in women’s addictions. “The theme each week is broad enough to encourage them to speak about their life experiences, whether or not they are related to alcohol,” explained Taschini. That day’s topic was, “How can we help get through the holidays, which are often seen as high-risk situations?”
In a country where “alcohol is everywhere and everyone is exposed to it,” as Dr. Marie-Olivia Chandesris pointed out, the stakes are high. Dr. Chandesris led the development of a resource guide of more than 200 pages, published in February 2025, for HAS, France’s national health authority. Designed as a resource for healthcare professionals, it addresses the specific ways alcohol affects women. “Alcohol consumption by women has gradually become normalized, even to the point where it is seen as a marker of liberation and emancipation,” the HAS report states. “The fact that women face increased health risks is a little-known reality,” Dr. Chandesris emphasized. “Because women drank less than men, they were long left out of research in alcohol studies and clinical trials,” said Mickael Naassila, president of the French Society of Alcohol Studies and Addictology.
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